Wim Wenders to Lead 76th Berlin International Film Festival Jury
The Berlin International Film Festival has announced that German director, author, and photographer Wim Wenders will lead the International Jury of the 76th Berlinale.
The 76th Berlinale will take place from February 12 to 22, 2026. The International Jury, chaired by Wenders, will decide on the Golden and Silver Bears in the Competition. The Award Ceremony will be on February 21, 2026. Last year’s top winners, led by jury president Todd Haynes, included Dreams (Sex Love) by Dag Johan Haugerud with the Golden Bear for Best Film and performance wins for Rose Byrne (If I Had Legs I’d Kick You) and Andrew Scott (Blue Moon).
As previously announced, Michelle Yeoh will be receiving the Honorary Bear Award for Lifetime Achievement at the Opening Ceremony on February 12.
“Wim Wenders is one of the most influential voices in international cinema. For six decades, he has made films that move and delight us with their humanity and sense of wonder. His insatiable curiosity and deep mastery of film language are evident in every work, whether he is exploring the gifts of other artists or illuminating our own search for meaning and connection. To say we are proud of this homegrown polymath is an understatement, and we cannot wait to see where jury president Wim Wenders leads our jury in picking the Golden and Silver Bear winners of the 76th Berlinale”, says Berlinale Director Tricia Tuttle.
Wim Wenders: “It never hit me to even remotely think about being jury president in my hometown until Tricia Tuttle asked me. And then I realised: Wow! That’ll be a whole new way to see films at the Berlinale, for once watch each and every one in the Competition and discuss them all in-depth with a group of intelligent and movie-loving people. How good can it get? I’m grateful to Tricia to invite me to this rare experience.”
Wim Wenders is among the most significant representatives of New German Cinema and has been a global presence since the 1970s. His work, both fiction and documentary, has inspired generations of filmmakers and captivated audiences worldwide.
With his early films such as The Goalkeeper’s Fear of the Penalty (1972), Alice in the Cities (1974), Kings of the Road (1976), and The American Friend (1977), he shaped a new cinematic language and redefined the image of German film. In 1971, he co-founded Filmverlag der Autoren, a key institution for New German Cinema, and in 2003 he was one of the founding members of the German Film Academy. Wim Wenders is also a co-founder of the European Film Academy and served as its president for more than two decades. With his foundation – the Wim Wenders Stiftung – he is committed to supporting film heritage, as well as the next generation of filmmakers and film education.
With films such as Paris, Texas (Cannes Palme d’Or Winner 1984), the legendary Berlin film Wings of Desire (1987), the technically ambitious science-fiction epic Until the End of the World (1991), Faraway, So Close! (1993), and the acclaimed music documentary Buena Vista Social Club (1999 – European Film Award for Best Documentary and an Oscar nomination in 2000), Wim Wenders created milestones of international cinema. His adventurousness in exploring new cinematic expressions – as seen in his work in the 3D dance film Pina, which premiered in the Berlinale Competition in 2011 and won Best Documentary at the German Film Awards – underscores his distinctive style and insatiable artistic curiosity.
Most recently, Wenders film Perfect Days (2023) earned an Oscar nomination for Best International Feature Film representing Japan, and released the 3D documentary Anselm (also 2023) about artist Anselm Kiefer.
Wenders has long been closely connected to the Berlinale: In addition to Pina, The Million Dollar Hotel (Opening Film 2000), and the 3D feature Everything Will Be Fine (2015), he has presented numerous works in the festival programme. He was a strong supporter and contributor in the founding years of the Berlinale Talent Campus (now Berlinale Talents). In 2015, he was honoured with the Berlinale’s Honorary Golden Bear for his outstanding achievements in film and cinema, and seven of his films were screened in restored versions.
He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.
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