TEHRAN -- Iranian actress-turned-director Niki Karimi has been selected as the head of the jury for the 3rd Reykjavík International Film Festival (RIFF), which will be held from September 28 to October 8 in the Icelandic capital.

Karimi first became popular in Iran for her role in Behruz Afkhami’s hit film “Bride” in 1990.

She then appeared in several movies of Iranian filmmakers Dariush Mehrjuii and Ebrahim Hatamikia.

She made her directorial debut with the short film “To Have or to Have Not”. Later she made her first feature-length film “One Night” in 2005.

Karimi’s second movie “A Few Days Later” debuted in the Contemporary World Cinema section of the 31st Toronto International Film Festival (September 7-16).

The movie tells the story of Shahrzad (played by Karimi herself), a young woman who has to make some serious decisions about her life.

Launched in 2004, RIFF holds a unique position among international film festivals in many respects.

Apart from the film screenings, the visitors will get a chance to catch the cream of recent festival films, to see dozens of amazing flicks from the world’s youngest and most talented directors, to meet foreign film pioneers, to see the shimmering northern lights, to enjoy a glacier trip, and to attend informative seminars and symposiums.

RIFF is more than a simple assortment of films.

RIFF offers movie buffs everything they could ever ask of a festival and offers a top-notch program, including a category supervised by world-renowned programmer Dimitri Eipides, who has become a household name at the Toronto Film Festival.

The program includes a mixture of movies from Argentina, Chile, France, Canada, the USA, Iran, China, Japan, Iceland, and other countries; a special category dedicated to human rights in cooperation with UNIFEM and UNICEF in Iceland, and a “cult-classic” movie marathon, complete with midnight snacks and breakfast.

RIFF organizers aim to make the festival a fountain of knowledge for Icelandic film culture and film studies.