German screen legend Hanna Schygulla will pick up an honorary Golden Bear prize for lifetime achievement at the 60th Berlin Film Festival, organizers said.
The Berlinale, which ranks among the top three European film festivals, said Schygulla, 65, had made an indelible mark on German cinema in the 20 films by Rainer Werner Fassbinder in which she appeared.
“She was considered Fassbinder’s muse and through him she became an icon of New German Cinema, the festival said in a statement.
“We are honoring an actress who, after being featured as anti-star by Fassbinder in his early films, became – with her expressive sensuality and stirring voice — one of Europe’s most exciting actresses.
She claimed the best actress award in Berlin in 1979 for “The Marriage of Maria Braun and in Cannes in 1983 for “Storia di Piera by Marco Ferreri and more recently drew critical praise for her performance in the 2007 drama by German-Turkish director Fatih Akin “The Edge of Heaven.
Her role in “Lili Marleen in 1981 launched her reputation as the “new Marlene Dietrich in the United States, and some of her solo directorial work has entered the collection of the Modern Museum of Art in New York.
Schygulla will accept the prize Feb. 18 and her most famous films and her video work will be shown during the Berlinale, running Feb. 11 to 21.
Another honorary Golden Bear for lifetime achievement will go to German screenwriter Wolfgang Kohlhaase Feb. 17.
Oscar-nominated German director Wolfgang Herzog (“Fitzcarraldo, “Encounters at the End of the World ) is to lead the international jury. -AFP
