Tilda Swinton will receive the Honorary Golden Bear at the Berlinale

The 75th Berlin International Film Festival will grant to Tilda Swinton he Honorary Golden Bear in recognition of his entire career. The award will be presented to the protagonist of films such as We Need to Talk About Kevin, Only Lovers Live, Okja or The Room Next Door at the Opening Ceremony to be held in the German capital on February 13, 2025.

“The Berlinale is the first film festival I went to, in 1986 with Derek Jarman and the first film I made (Caravaggio by Derek Jarman). It was my gateway to the world in which I have developed my professional life – the world of international cinema – and I have never forgotten the debt I owe to it,” says the Scottish actress in a statement released by the organization of the festival in which Swinton says being recognized by the Berlinale “excites her deeply.”

“It will be a privilege and a pleasure for me to celebrate, once again next February, the seedbed that is this wide-eyed and reliably wonderful meeting” says the actress. “The scope of Tilda Swinton’s work is impressive. He brings a lot of humanity, compassion, intelligence, humor and style to cinema, and expands our ideas of the world through his work. Tilda is one of our modern cinema idols, and she has also been part of the Berlinale family for a long time. We are delighted to be able to present him with this Honorary Golden Bear,” said Tricia Tuttle, Festival Director.

Winner of an Oscar for best supporting actress in 2008 for her work in Michael Clayton, Swinton has been closely linked to the Berlin International Film Festival for many years: she was president of the International Jury in 2009 and has starred in 26 films in the festival’s programme. festival, from Caravaggio, who won the Silver Bear at the 1986 Berlinale, The Beach (2000), Derek (2008), Julia (2008), The Garden (1991) or The Last and the First Men (2020).

Swinton thus succeeds Martin Scorsese, winner of the Honorary Golden Bear in the previous edition. Other figures who have received this recognition have been Steven Spielberg, Helen Mirren, Charlotte Rampling, Isabelle Huppert, Wim Wenders, Ken Loach, Meryl Streep, Milena Canonero, Willem Dafoe and Fernando Fernán Gómez.