Berlin - One of the leading directors of modern cinema Werner Herzog is to be the jury president for next year's 60th anniversary Berlin Film Festival, the Berlinale announced Thursday.

Munich-born Herzog, who has made more than 50 movies during a career spanning about five decades, will preside over the awarding of the Berlinale's top prizes including its prestigious Golden Bear.

"Werner Herzog's films convey the artistic strength of cinema. We are very pleased to have this outstanding director as Jury President for the 60th anniversary of the festival," said Berlinale director Dieter Kosslick.

In addition to his success as a film director, Herzog has also established himself as a writer, producer and actor as well as opera director.

This has included productions at the Richard Wagner Bayreuth Festival and at La Scala in Milan.

In 2009, TIME Magazine named Herzog as one of its 100 most influential people worldwide.

Herzog is also considered to be a driving force behind the emergence of the so-called New German Cinema, which includes among its numbers Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Volker Schloendorff, and Wim Wenders.

Herzog's debut feature film, Signs of Life was awarded one of the Berlinale's top prizes in 1968. He has also won a series of awards at the Cannes Film Festival.

His films include Aguirre: The Wrath of God (1972), Woyzeck (1979), The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser, Nosferatu The Vampyre (1979), Fitzcarraldo (1982), and Rescue Dawn (2006).

There have also been five films made about Herzog. (dpa)