German film director Edgar Reitz will preside over the International Jury at the 57th Mannheim- Heidelberg Filmfestival 2008. The jury, consisting of Reitz („Heimat“), Alexander Bohr, editor at the German national TV station ZDF, Canadian film producer Paul Martin Hus, Russian Raissa Fomina, the owner of Intercinema, and Jaana Puskala, Head of Promotion at the Finnish Film Commission, will confer the main awards at the Grand Festival Finale on 16 November, among which are the Main Award of Mannheim-Heidelberg, the Rainer Werner Fassbinder-Prize and the Special Award of the International Jury. The Jury will decide over 18 films from independent necwomer directors in International Competition at this years festival edition.

Since the Oberhausener Manifest, the declaration of war on tacky post- war cinema in Germany which was proclaimed in 1962, Edgar Reitz has been connected to the idea of author film and of „Young German Cinema“. After the first screening of the „Heimat“-cycle in 1984 the critics called „Heimat“ the sum and the requiem of German film. In 2004, Reitz was honoured „Master of Cinema“ at the Internationalen Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg. Among his other works are:
„Deutschland im Herbst“, „Stunde Null“, „Mahlzeiten“.
Russian Raissa Fomina has been the owner of Intercinema since 1992.
Intercinema distributes and promotes Russian arthouse films abroad (e.g. “The Return” by Andrej Zvjagintzev, Golden Lion Venice Film Festival), and foreign films in Russia (e.g. by Lars von Trier, Aki Kaurismäki).
Alexander Bohr has been a film editor at the German TV channel ZDF, first art director of the film programme of 3sat and co-founder of the 3sat-series „Kennwort Kino“ since 1984. Since 1994, he has also been deputy director at the department Spielfilm III/ARTE and art director at the ARTE-film programme and ARTE-theme nights.
Jaana Puskala has been Head of Promotion at the International Department at Finnish Film Foundation since 19 years. She is currently in charge of promotion of finnish films abroad, at festivals and events around the world.
Martin Paul-Hus is a Canadian producer of international films who produced films by Amos Kollek, Nicholas Roegg, Peter Sehr and Renny Bartlett. In 2002, he was nominated for the Canadian Genie Award for „Eisenstein“. He won the Silver Leopard in Locarno for “Love the Hard Way“ and the Bavarian Award for Peter Sehr as Best Director.

More awards in Mannheim-Heidelberg are being conferred by the FIPRESCI-Jury, the Ecumenical Jury and the Jury of Cinema Owners.

The 57th International Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg takes place from 6 to 16 November 2008. The opening night is on 6 November featuring the international premiere „The Baby Formula“ by Canadian filmmaker Alison Reid.