Actor Meryl Streep, pictured here arriving for the opening- screening of her new film 'Suffragette' at the British Film Institute will head the jury at the Berlin International Film Festival next February.

A very take-charge woman, Streep said in a statement released by the festival: "The responsibility is somewhat daunting, as I have never been president of anything before" before adding that she is "grateful for the honor."

Streep Receives Brittania Award

Streep had a good night last evening in Hollywood, where the British Academy Brittania Awards presented the actor with its Stanley Kubrick Brittania Award for Excellence in Film., Deadline reports that Streep, currently starring in 'Suffragette' "wasted no time noting the divide in the gender of past winners."

“I am honored to receive this award given to a distinguished group of men and women…. Oh wait, men and men,” Streep said of the award and irony of being the first woman to receive it.

Sean Penn Joins Streep In Promoting 'India's Daughter'

Sean Penn joins 'India's Daughter' director Lesslee Udwin at official LA opening.

Director Leslee Udwin's film 'India's Daughter' has opened in general release here in America. Although the film about gang rape in India continues to be banned in India, Meryl Streep is aggressively promoting it for a best documentary Oscar in 2016. "When I first saw (the film) I couldn't speak afterwards," the actor said recently in New York.

Streep was joined by Freida Pinto, in promoting 'India's Daughter' at the Tribeca Film Festival in March, and the activist actor has attracted a long and growing list of suporters of the film.

On Tuesday in Los Angeles at the Paley Center for Media in Beverly Hills, Sean Penn joined Streep in promoting 'India's Daughter'.

Comparing Udwin’s film about the gang rape of 23-year-old Jyoti Singh and the Indian and global protests that followed to an MRI, Penn added: “It made me ponder manhood. It reminded me of a trip I took with my children many years ago to Tanzania. I remember saying to our guide how extraordinary it was to see a culture last the way it had been for a thousand years. And the guide said to me: ‘Don’t wish the static upon anyone. It will kill them.’”

It's important to note that although the film is banned in India as being an incitement to riot, another documentary about gang rape and the brutal killing of medical student Singh called 'Daughters of Mother India', directed by Vibha Bakshi, was recognized as the best film on social issues at this year's National Film Awards in India. The Guardian writes:

'Daughters of Mother India' doesn’t feature interviews with Singh’s family or the attackers, but instead focuses on the national conversation generated by the case, and on reform in the police and court systems. Bakshi said: “Like millions of others, I too felt outraged by the gruesome incident that triggered massive protests and put India in the spotlight worldwide. So I thought of exploring the Indian psyche from various angles and how it was impacted by the horrific crime.” It was executive produced by Maryann De Leo, who won an Oscar in 2004 for her short documentary Chernobyl Heart.

Anne of Carversville has followed the story of Jyoti Singh's brutal rape and the filming of 'India's Daughter' since 2012. Read on about the banning of the film.