Oscar-winning actor Tim Robbins and cinematographer Ellen Kuras will join a group of judges selected to choose the winners of this year's Berlin International Film Festival, organizers announced Monday.
Chinese director Wong Kar Wai will serve as jury president. Other judges, who will hand out the Golden Bear and Silver Bear awards for the 2013 Berlinale Competition, include German director Andreas Dresen, Danish filmmaker Susanne Bier, Iranian visual artist Shirin Neshat and Greek filmmaker Athina Rachel Tsangari.
The judge's credentials seem to hint at a political undertone to this year's festival.
Robbins is a well-known leftist activist, who has protested against United States military interventions overseas.
Kuras's most recent film, 2008's "The Betrayal," followed an immigrant's harrowing journey from Laos to a new life in New York City.
Bier's recent releases, including 2010's Oscar-winning "In a Better World" and 2006's "After the Wedding," explore the West's relationship with developing countries.
Neshat's work, which spans visual art and includes a feature debut called "Women Without Men," is filled with explorations of her native Iran.
This also marks the first time women outnumber men on the judge's panel, four to three. And women also triumphed in the festival's early award handouts.
The festival also announced on Monday that it would grant its Berlinale Cameras, an award for individuals to whom the festival "feels indebted," to actress and director Isabella Rossellini and filmmaker Rosa von Praunheim.
Rossellini's film "Mammas" will premiere at the festival just after she receives her award on Feb. 9. Von Praunheim will receive her award four days later.
