Award-winning Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami has been named as the president of the jury for the 9th International Film Festival of Marrakech.

Kiarostami will lead the jury of the International Film Festival of Marrakech, which will be held from December 4 to 12, 2009.

This month, more than 60 film curators, historians, and festival programmers around the world ranked Kiarostami's The Wind Will Carry Us as number 21 of the 50 best films of the 2000s.

The multi-talented Iranian director, screenwriter, filmmaker and photographer has received many prestigious international awards.

He received the 1997 Cannes 'Palm d'Or' award and the 2008 'Glory to the Filmmaker' award of the Venice Film Festival.

Kiarostami is also a master of the theater. He has staged Mozart's comic opera, 'Cosi Fan Tutte' at London's Coliseum Theater and the 2008 'Festival of Lyric Art' in Aix-en-Provence, France.

NAT/AKM