Chinese director Wong Kar-Wai to chair 2013 Berlin festival jury

Chinese director Wong Kar-wai, whose films include Chungking Express and In the Mood for Love, will be jury chair at next year’s Berlin International Film Festival.

Berlinale director Dieter Kosslick announced Wong had accepted the post as jury chair on Tuesday, saying the festival has established itself as a platform for contemporary Chinese cinema. He praised Wong for the "distinctive signature and the poetry of his works."

Shanghai-born, Hong Kong-raised Wong is currently working on The Grandmasters, which stars Tony Leung and Ziyi Zhang. It is the story of martial-arts master Ip Man, the man who trained Bruce Lee.

His 1991 film Days of Being Wild and 1996’s Fallen Angels screened at the Berlin festival and he won the best director award at the Cannes Film Festival for Happy Together.  His 2004 film 2046 won a European Film Award for best non-European film.

The rest of the jury, which chooses the winner of the Golden Bear award, will be named at a later date.

The 67th edition of the Berlin International Film Festival is set for Feb. 7-17, 2013,