A fifth celebrity judge has been added to the judging panel for this year's Norwich Film Festival.

Juliet Stevenson, star of movies such as Truly Madly Deeply, Bend It Like Beckham and Mona Lisa Smile, will help to judge the festival.

The actress joins Lord of the Rings star Bernard Hill on the panel, as well as Tim McInnerny, best known as Lord Percy from Blackadder or from films such as Notting Hill, Steve Furst, from TV shows such as Little Britain and the Orange mobile phone adverts, and British film director Jim Field Smith, who recently directed Hollywood feature She's Out Of My League.

This year's festival starts on the weekend of Friday, March 30 and Saturday, March 31, when the best short films submitted to the festival will be shown at Hollywood Cinema, near Anglia Square. About 10 to 15 films will be screened each night, including the winner of each category.

Then, on Friday, April 6 and Saturday, April 7, the festival will move to the Curve digital theatre at the Forum to screen the short films that were nominated for this year's BAFTA Short Film and BAFTA Short Animation awards, as well as a question and answer session with filmmakers afterwards.

All the films will be divided into four categories – short, animation, student and documentary – with several from each being shortlisted to win each award.

The judging panel will then narrow the field even further to pick a winner in each category, as well as a film which will be crowned Best in Festival.