Todd Haynes Is President of 2025 Berlin Film Festival Jury

His debut feature "Poison" won the Teddy Award there in 1991.

American director, screenwriter and producer Todd Haynes has been named president of the international jury of the 75th Berlin International Film Festival. The Berlinale diamond jubilee (a 75th anniversary) will take place from February 13-23, 2025.

”Todd Haynes is a dazzlingly gifted writer and director with an impressive range; his body of work is at once stylistically versatile but also unmistakably his,” Berlinale Director Tricia Tuttle said in a Thursday statement. “Ever since his debut feature ‘Poison’ won the Teddy Award in 1991, the Berlinale has followed and loved his filmmaking, and we are overjoyed to have him join the festival as the President of the International Jury for our 75th edition.”

The Teddy Award is the festival’s queer-film prize. “Poison” also won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. Haynes’ 2002 film “Far From Heaven” was nominated for four Oscars.

His other notable work includes “Safe” (1995), “Velvet Goldmine” (1998), the fictional Bob Dylan biopic “I’m Not There” (2007), which won the Grand Jury Prize in Venice, the mini-series “Mildred Pierce” (2011), “Carol” (2015), “Wonderstruck” (2017), “Dark Waters” (2019), “The Velvet Underground” (2021), and “May December” (2023).

Haynes’ near-40-year-long filmography has featured Julianne Moore, Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Kate Winslet, Anne Hathaway, Natalie Portman, Mark Ruffalo, Christian Bale, Ewan McGregor, and more.

The Berlinale announcement dubbed Haynes “one of the most bold and distinctive filmmaking voices in US-American cinema, beloved for his great sensitivity in exploring the interior worlds of outsiders and women, and his fascinating investigations into gender and identity.”

Haynes has most-recently been in headlines for a film he isn’t making — at least, not anymore (at least, for now). Haynes was set to make a queer romance film co-starring Joaquin Phoenix and Danny Ramirez. But Phoenix, who actually brought the project to Haynes, dropped out just five days before production was set to begin; IndieWire first reported the news, read it here.

The 2024 Berlin competition jury was led by Lupita Nyong’o and included Brady Corbet, Ann Hui, Christian Petzold, Albert Serra, Jasmine Trinca, and Oksana Zabuzhko. Kristen Stewart led the 2023 group.

The main competition winners last year were:

Golden Bear: “Dahomey,” Mati Diop

Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize: “A Traveler’s Needs,” Hong Sangsoo

Silver Bear Jury Prize: “The Empire,” Bruno Dumont

Silver Bear for Best Director: “Pepe,” Nelson Carlos De Los Santos Arias

Silver Bear for Best Lead Performance: “A Different Man,” Sebastian Stan

Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance: “Small Things Like These,” Emily Watson

Silver Bear for Best Screenplay: “Dying,” Matthias Glasner

Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution: “The Devil’s Bath,” Martin Gschlacht, cinematography