Volker Schlöndorff in his house at Griebnitzsee. He has lived alone since the death of his wife in 2019 Photo: Charles Yunck
From BZ/dpa
Director Volker Schlöndorff (“The Tin Drum”) has been honored for outstanding services to German film.
The German Film Academy awarded the 84-year-old the honorary award on Friday evening in Berlin. Hollywood star John Malkovich paid tribute to his work in a video speech, and other filmmakers such as Nina Hoss and Katharina Thalbach also congratulated him.
Many would have thought when looking at the price list: “Oh, that again?” Schlöndorff joked in his acceptance speech for the honorary award. “And I even thought: ‘Don’t I already have it?'” He thanked the film academy and its members. A number of guests in the hall stood up and applauded him.
It’s never too late to receive the honorary prize, because nothing is finished and one thinks that a lot is still possible, said Schlöndorff. With tears in his eyes, he thanked his former partner, the director Margarethe von Trotta, among others, and called on people to go to the cinema.
Schlöndorff is known for his literary adaptations. He was born in Wiesbaden in 1939. He made his directorial debut with “The Young Törless”. Later he filmed the Heinrich Böll story “The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum” together with von Trotta.
The international breakthrough followed with the film adaptation of Günter Grass’ novel of the same name “The Tin Drum”. The film won the Palme d’Or in Cannes and the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Schlöndorff’s work also includes the adaptation of Arthur Miller’s drama “Death of a Salesman” with Malkovich and Dustin Hoffman and the film adaptation of Max Frisch’s novel “Homo Faber”.