Berlin: Germany's Berlin film festival says it has invited a leading Iranian opposition filmmaker Jafar Panahi to be a juror in the next year's Berlinale.
Festival director Dieter Kosslick said on Monday he hopes Panahi will be allowed to join the jury for the 61st Berlinale, which runs from February 10-20, 2011.
Iranian authorities arrested Panahi in March for unspecified offenses. He was released on a bail of about $200,000, after more than two months in custody. He still faces an indictment.
Panahi was unable to be in this year's Cannes Film Festival jury because he was detained.
"Offside," Panahi's film about girls who disguise themselves as boys to sneak into a football match in Tehran, won a runner-up Silver Bear award at the 2006 Berlin festival.
