Werner Herzog to head Berlin film fest jury

Acclaimed German director Werner Herzog will head the Berlin Film Festival jury in February 2010.

An Oscar nominee for his documentary Encounters at the End of the World, Herzog has made more than 50 films and is extremely influential among young filmmakers.

Festival organizer Dieter Kosslick called him "one of the most significant personalities of New German Cinema."

"Werner Herzog's films convey the artistic strength of cinema," Kosslick said in a press release. "We are very pleased to have this outstanding director as jury president for the 60th anniversary of the festival."

Herzog's feature films include 1972's Aguirre: The Wrath of God, 1979's Nosferatu the Vampyre and 1982's Fitzcarraldo, all with the late celebrated German actor Klaus Kinski, with whom he had a famously contentious relationship, which Herzog documented in the film My Best Fiend.

Herzog's latest feature is Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, starring Nicholas Cage, which is scheduled for commercial release in North America Friday.

Drawing on his love of nature and the outdoors and a fascination for extreme situations, Herzog has also made several acclaimed documentaries, including 2005's Grizzly Man.

He is almost as well known for his single-minded determination and filming in difficult circumstances — perhaps best captured in the Les Blank documentary Burden of Dreams about the making of Fitzcarraldo — as he is for his films .

The Berlinale, one of the top three European film festivals after Cannes and Venice, runs Feb. 11-21, 2010.