Diverse and daring Berlinale pays tribute to Tilda Swinton
Cinephiles are eagerly awaiting the 75 th edition of this festival, where the jury will be presided over by director Todd Haynes, while an Honorary Golden Bear will be awarded to one fantastic Scottish actress
The Berlinale is the first major European film festival of the year and, as such, often hosts the European pre- mieres of films currently competing for the Oscars or seeking to attract at- tention ahead of Cannes and Venice. A festival for both the general public and the film industry, it is a place of encounters and exchanges, a unique space for artistic research and one of the world’s largest film festivals. The Berlin International Film Festival is this year celebrating its 75 th edition. First opened to Berlin’s local audienc- es in 1951, at the start of the Cold War, it represented a “showcase of the free world” and to this day continues to be considered the most politically engaged of all major film festivals. With more than 200 films screened at various locations, the annual festival offers something for everyone: from Hollywood blockbust- ers to experimental indie films. Fur- ther enhancing the festival’s appeal is its commitment to inclusivity and sustainability, which make it not on- ly a celebration of cinema, but also a forward-thinking cultural event. Who is Todd? He has been among the bold- est and most distinctive filmmak- ing voices in U.S. cinema for nearly 40 years, beloved for his great sensi- tivity in exploring the internal worlds of outsiders and women, and his fascinating investigations into gen- der and identity. His skill at creat- ing complex characters has attract- ed many of the world’s finest actors, with the multi-layered characters of his films having been portrayed by stars like Julianne Moore, Cate Blan- chett, Rooney Mara, Kate Winslet, Natalie Portman, Christian Bale and Ewan McGregor.
Rising to international promi- nence in the early 1990s, as part of a thrilling new generation of Ameri- can directors, by the time of his four- time Oscar nominated film Far from Heaven (2002), Haynes was fully es- tablished as a major force of U.S. film- making. His feature film debut, Poi- son, received many awards, while his other key works include Safe (1995), Velvet Goldmine (1998), the fiction- al Bob Dylan biopic I’m Not There (2007), which won the Grand Ju- ry Prize in Venice, the mini-series Mildred Pierce (2011), Carol (2015), Wonderstruck (2017), Dark Waters (2019), The Velvet Underground (2021) and May December (2023). Tribute to Tilda The 75 th Berlin Internation- al Film Festival will award Scottish actress Tilda Swinton an Honorary Golden Bear lifetime achievement award, which will be presented dur- ing the Opening Ceremony on 13 th February. “The range of her work is breathtaking. To cinema she brings so much humanity, compassion, intelli- gence, humour and style, and she ex- pands our ideas of the world through her work. Tilda is one of our modern filmmaking idols, and has also long been part of the Berlinale family. We are delighted to be able to present her with this Honorary Golden Bear,” said Festival Director Tricia Tuttle, and Tilda reciprocated with her own words of praise. “The Berlinale is the first film festival I ever went to, in 1986 with Caravaggio. It was my portal into the world in which I have made my life’s work - the world of internation- al filmmaking - and I have never for- gotten the debt I owe it. To be hon- oured in this way by this particular festival is deeply touching for me: it
will be my privilege and pleasure to celebrate, once more, the seedbed that is this wide-eyed and reliably wonderful gathering,” said Swinton. The Oscar-winning actress has been closely linked with the Berlin Festival for many years, serving as the President of the International Jury in 2009 and starring in 26 films screened, ranging from Caravaggio, which won the Silver Bear at the 1986 Berlinale, The Beach (2000), Derek (2008), Julia (2008), The Gar- den (1991) and Last and First Men (2020). Potsdamer Platz The festival’s main venue of Potsdamer Platz becomes the cen- tre of Berlin each February, but that’s not the only time of year that this square attracts film lovers. It is home to the CinemaxX multiplex cinema, while cinephiles can also enjoy ex- perimental works and cinema clas- sics at the Arsenal Berlin, and the square’s Museum of Film and Tel- evision offers a fascinating journey through the history of cinema in Germany.
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