BERLIN -- German thesps Hanna Schygulla and Wolfgang Kohlhaase will be feted at the Berlin Film Festival’s Homage with honorary Golden Bears for their lifetime achievements.
Berlinale organizers said Schygulla and Kohlhaase had “decisively shaped post-war German cinema in different ways.”
Schygulla is best known for her work with Rainer Werner Fassbinder, having starred in 20 of his films between 1969 and 1980.
Schygulla’s star rose internationally through Fassbinder’s later works, such as “The Marriage of Maria Braun,” for which the actress received the Silver Bear in 1979, and “Lili Marleen” in 1981.
She also worked with directors such as Reinhard Hauff, Volker Schloendorff, Margarethe von Trotta and Wim Wenders as well as Jean- Luc Godard, Carlos Saura, Ettore Scola and Andrzej Wajda.
Schygulla won the best actress award in Cannes in 1983 for her role in Marco Ferreri’s “The Story of Piera.” More recently she starred in Fatih Akin’s “The Edge of Heaven” and has also been active in theater projects and directorial works: her experimental film “Traumprotokolle,” part of the film collection at New York’s Museum of Modern Art, will be among the works screening at the Berlinale. As part of the homage, Fassbinder’s rarely seen 1971 comedy “Rio das Mortes” also will unspool.
As a screenwriter and director, Kohlhaase not only strongly influenced filmmaking in East Germany, but went on to make his mark on modern German cinema following the fall of the Berlin Wall and the country’s unification.
“The sense of authenticity in both his characters and stories, his laconic, very economical language, and his fine irony have been a stroke of luck for German cinema,” said Rainer Rother, artistic director of the Deutsche Kinemathek, which oversees the Homage.
Kohlhaase worked closely with filmmakers such as Gerhard Klein, Konrad Wolf, and Frank Beyer at East Germany’s DEFA film group.
His first box-office hits were the “Berlin” films made with Klein, including 1957’s “Berlin -- Schoenhauser Corner.” They were among the first DEFA films to show everyday life in East Germany, bringing a new tone to cinema in the GDR.
Kohlhaase later wrote for directors such as Bernhard Wicki and Schloendorff and more recently for Andreas Dresen, including this year’s “Whisky with Vodka” and 2006’s “Summer in Berlin.”
“Hanna Schygulla and Wolfgang Kohlhaase both stand for renewal and departure -- in West and East Germany,” said Berlinale director Dieter Kosslick.
Contact Ed Meza at
ed.meza@mannaa.de