“With Paul Verhoeven as jury president, we have a filmmaker who has worked in a variety of genres in Europe and Hollywood,” said Dieter Kosslick, director of the Berlinale.

“His creative, multifaceted boldness and his willingness to experiment are reflected in the spectrum of his works,” he added.

The Berlinale is Europe's first major film festival of the year, and the next edition will run from February 9th to 19th.

Verhoeven had studied mathematics and physics but turned to film in the mid-1960s.

The Dutchman embarked on his directing career in 1969, and quickly made a name with the 1973 erotic thriller “Turkish Delight” which won an Academy Awards nomination.

After his 1977 “Soldier of Orange”, he turned to Hollywood where he made blockbuster action flicks including “Robocop” and “Total Recall”, the latter starring muscleman Arnold Schwarzenegger.

In 1997, he directed another cult movie, “Starship Troopers”, in which intergalatic recruits fight off hordes of giant insects.

He turned his eye to writing in 2007 before returning to filmmaking this year with “Elle”, a relentless tale of a woman's downward spiral after being raped.

“Elle” has been nominated for the European Film Awards in three categories, as well as in two categories for the US Critics' Choice Awards.

Correction: This article originally stated that Arnold Schwarzenegger starred in Robocop. The lead was in fact Peter Weller.