The Berlin festival will award British actress Tilda Swinton with a lifetime achievement award at its 75th edition in February.
The Berlinale, the first major cinematographic event of the year in Europe, salutes the “stunning scope of the work” of Tilda Swinton who, at 64, has brought “so much humanity, compassion, intelligence, 'humor and style in cinema'.
The festival will take place in the German capital from February 13 to 23 and will open with the new film by German director Tom Tykwer, The lightwhich is about the arrival of a Syrian woman as governess in a German family.
Short hair highlighting her enigmatic face, alabaster skin, green eyes, Tilda Swinton saw her career take off late in winning the 2008 Oscar for best supporting actress in Michael Clayton, by the American Tony Gilroy, with George Clooney.
This Scottish woman began by working on demanding films, in collaboration with the experimental British director Derek Jarman.
Since 2000, Hollywood cinema has opened its doors to the woman who has co-starred in big-budget feature films alongside stars like Leonardo DiCaprio (The Beach2000), Tom Cruise (Vanilla Sky2001) or Brad Pitt (War Machine2017).
More recently, the actress often seen at Jim Jarmusch and Wes Anderson starred in Pedro Almodóvar's first English-language film, The Room Next DoorGolden Lion in Venice in 2024.
“Tilda Swinton is one of our idols of modern cinema and has also been part of the Berlinale family for a long time,” said the new festival director, American Tricia Tuttle, in a press release.
“The Berlinale is the first film festival I attended,” said Tilda Swinton. It was in 1986 with Caravaggioinspired by the life of the Italian baroque painter Caravaggio, the actress's very first film, winner of a Silver Bear in Berlin.
