Great news today! “Florence Foster Jenkins” starring Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant has been set by Pathé for a saturation release across the UK on 6 May 2016. The comedy drama directed by Stephen Frears (Philomena, The Queen) tells the inspirational true story of the eponymous New York heiress who obsessively pursued her dream of becoming a great singer. The film celebrates the human spirit, the power of music and the passion of amateurs everywhere. Here’s the official synopsis: “The voice Florence (Streep) heard in her head was divine, but to the rest of the world it was hilariously awful. At private recitals, her devoted husband and manager, St Clair Bayfield (Grant), managed to protect Florence from the truth. But when Florence decided to give her first public concert at New York’s Carnegie Hall, St Clair realised he had perhaps bitten off more than he could chew.”

The Berlin International Film Festival kicks off next Thursday, and Meryl Streep will headline this year’s Jury. It’s the first time she has taken over a jury job at a festival, but by far not the first time she has attended the Berlinale. It’ll be interesting to see if there are many public appearances (a masterclass has already been announced) or if Meryl will be hiding in the theaters to watch all films in competition. The good thing however, since I live in Germany, is that we can get all the coverage on what’s happening, so prepare yourself for a busy week. As a look back, the first Streep film to premiere at the Berlinale was “The Deer Hunter” in 1979, causing a stir after it was removed from the festival after withdrawal of several countries from the festival in protest of its inclusion. Both “Out of Africa” and “Marvin’s Room” screened in the 1980s and 1990s as well. Her first appearance came in 1999 with the premiere of “One True Thing” and an honorary Berlinale Kamera (an award for people that the Berlinale feels connected to through their artistry). In 2003, Meryl, Julianne Moore and Nicole Kidman won the Best Actress award for “The Hours”, although Meryl wasn’t present. She returned three years later with the cast of “A Prairie Home Companion” and again in 2012 for the premiere of “The Iron Lady” and for receiving the Honorary Golden Bear, with which the Berlinale pays tribute to important figures in the world of film. Have a look at the photo gallery below for all appearances and look forward to more additions this next week.

According to Variety, Clive Owen, Italian actress Alba Rohrwacher and Polish director Malgorzata Szumowska have joined Meryl Streep on the international jury of the Berlin Film Festival. Also on the jury are French photographer Brigitte Lacombe, “Sight & Sound” editor Nick James and German actor Lars Eidinger. As previously announced, Streep is the president of the jury. The festival also announced it would present its Berlinale Camera award to Tim Robbins for his achievements as an actor, director, writer and producer; U.S. producer, movie theater owner and distributor Ben Barenholtz; and German cinema operator Marlies Kirchner. The award is given to film personalities or institutions to which the festival feels particularly indebted and wishes to express its thanks. The festival opens next Thursday.

Six promotional featurettes for Meryl’s films, including Postcards from the Edge, The River Wild, Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, Prime, Doubt and Suffragette have been added to the video archive (the Suffragette video has been added before but went without mention). The former five are not full featurettes but rather bits from an entertainment program, still a great find and some wonderful on-set footage and old interviews. Click any of the previews below.

Today brings a massive update of magazine scans in the photo gallery, ranging from 1979 to 2015 and covering pretty much everything from the press coverage on “Kramer vs. Kramer” to the latest articles on “Suffragette”. About 50 magazines have been added with a good 150 pages. Many thanks to my friend Alvaro for finding all these and sending them my way. Very appreciated! For a complete list of all updated albums, have a look below the previews. Enjoy.

Meryl Streep will share her experience from decades at the top of the acting profession with the 300 emerging film professionals taking part in this year’s Berlinale Talents program. Streep confirmed she will hold a workshop for the Berlinale Talents on Sunday, Feb.14 during the Berlin International Film Festival. Streep is the president of the jury for the 66th Berlin festival. The 300 talents – emerging film professionals from around the world – were selected from a group of more than 2,700 applicants. They will take part in a series of workshops and masterclasses during the event, which runs Feb.13 – Feb. 18 concurrent with the Berlin fest.

In the photo gallery, four films have been updated from the previous DVD resolution to wonderful high definition Blu-Ray screencaptures. Updates include “The House of the Spirits”, “The Bridges of Madison County”, “The Hours” and “Dark Matter”. Enjoy.

A second batch of public appearances pictures have been added to the photo gallery, including new finds from the 1983 and 1986 Academy Awards, the People’s Choice Awards and the premiere for “Postcards from the Edge”. Next up will be some cool additional production stills.

Happy New Year everybody. Streep fans will have some rough weeks ahead – a full awards season without a trace of Meryl. So let’s make the best out of it and spend our time with a trip down memory lane. A bunch of additional pictures from various public appearances from 1976 to 1980 have been added to the photo gallery. There’s more to come, so check back later.

2015 is coming to an end rapidly, and time has prevented me from doing some nice site specials for the holidays (maybe consider the timeline an early Christmas gift ;-) Neverthless, I try to wrap 2015 with some additional images and the year in review between the festivities. In the meantime, I would like to wish all Simply Streep visitors a Merry Christmas and some peaceful days with your families or beloved ones. Enjoy your time and look forward to 2016 bringing lots of great new material to Simply Streep. Yours, Frederik