“Cinema given a new meaning”: Golden Honorary Bear at the Berlinale for Steven Spielberg

The American director Steven Spielberg will be honored with the Honorary Golden Bear for his life’s work at the next Berlinale (February 16 to 23).

“In the course of his incredible career, Steven Spielberg has not only inspired generations of viewers all over the world, but also given the “cinema” a new meaning as a dream factory,” explained the Berlinale management duo Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian.

“Be it the eternally magical world of adolescents or our reality, forever shaped by history; his films transport us to another level, where the screen offers the appropriate surface to unfold our emotions.” The date of the award ceremony has yet to be announced.

According to the film festival, Spielberg’s oeuvre, which comprises more than 100 films and series, is unique in its diversity in the international film history of the last 60 years. These include classics and popular hits such as Jaws, ET, Indiana Jones, Schindler’s List, Lincoln and West Side Story.

The 75-year-old is considered one of the most successful filmmakers of all time. Spielberg has won an Oscar three times and has been nominated for the award 19 times. He has also received numerous Golden Globes and Emmys.

Spielberg’s social commitment was also emphasized. In 1998 he received the Grand Cross of Merit with a Star of the Federal Republic of Germany for the Shoah Foundation he founded and his film “Schindler’s List”. In 2001 Queen Elizabeth made him a Knight Commander of the British Empire. In 2015 he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from then US President Barack Obama.

As part of the award ceremony, Spielberg’s latest work “The Fabelmans” is to be shown in the Berlinale Palast. The film has autobiographical traits, as the son of a Jewish family, Spielberg looks back on his childhood. It is scheduled to hit German cinemas in March 2023. (dpa)

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