Martin Scorsese receives an honorary Golden Bear from Wim Wenders – The Hollywood Reporter

Martin Scorsese was greeted with loud cheers when he got out of his car at the Berlinale Palace on Tuesday night and began signing autographs for the crowd gathered on this cold Berlin night.

The Oscar-winning director received an honorary Golden Bear for lifetime achievement at the 74th Berlin Film Festival.

“Marty!! Marty!!,” the crowd chanted as Scorsese posed for photographers before answering reporters’ questions and greeting festival officers, protected from the harsh weather only by his stylish black suit.

Once inside the hall, the 81-year-old finally sat down about 25 minutes after his arrival, following long applause.

Live music from the soundtrack of Moonflower killers It was accompanied by clips playing on the screen. The festival’s executive director, Marita Riesenbeck, and artistic director, Carlo Chatrian, said a few words of appreciation to the great director, making Scorsese laugh and appear to cry with his daughter Francesca by his side.

German director Wim Wenders took the stage and gave an overview of his career, pulling out dozens of films from Scorsese’s seven decades of filmmaking, and talking about the career Scorsese later said on stage he couldn’t do himself. “I can’t,” he said.

“Directed by Martin Scorsese. For half a century now this has become a trademark and a trademark. “Half a century of an extraordinary cinematic journey,” Wenders said, before recalling his first meeting with Scorsese on a lonely road in Utah in 1978, after the Telluride Film Festival, when Scorsese emerged from under a car with a flat tire. She tries to fix the drive with Isabella Rossellini.

Wenders also praised the Scorsese Film Foundation as “Noah’s Ark of cinematic heritage, having helped restore more than 1,000 films and make them accessible to the public. “Getting back to the movies is what I gave you,” he said.

When Scorsese finally took to the stage to accept his award, he thanked “everyone in Berlin” before adding a personal message of gratitude to Wenders. “Wim, I don’t know what to say beyond this introduction and the beautiful history of the work I’ve done over the years, and to my collaborators. It’s a hard act to follow.”

Continuing Telluride’s tale of film talent encounters that day in 1978, Scorsese talked about Wenders’ work as much as Wenders talked about his own, displaying his generosity toward others and his encyclopedic knowledge of cinema.

“With regard to my films, I don’t know what I can say about 50 or 60 years of work,” Scorsese said. “I can’t do it without talking about the place where film is celebrated, which is at festivals.” “I feel really happy to have been part of the conversation for most of my life. I can’t talk about my work. Maybe Wim can.”

No stranger to the Berlinale, many of Scorsese’s films have been screened here, including… Raging BullWhich played out of competition in 1981, Cape of fear Which was presented in competition in 1992. Gangs of New Yorkwhich played out of competition in 2003, and Shutter Island He played out of competition in 2010. His concert film for the Rolling Stones Highlight The Berlinale opened in 2008.

Over the years, the Scorsese Film Foundation has been involved in many films screened in the Berlinale Classics section.

“For the Film Foundation, we initially looked for films that influenced us. We were looking for copies (of old films) but it was very difficult to find good ones,” Scorsese told reporters on Tuesday before the ceremony. In it are the people who made the film, so there was a magic in discovering something new in art and cinema as art. It could be a John Ford film or someone from Satyajit Ray…”

Scorsese confirmed to reporters in Berlin that he is working on a film about the life of Christ.

“I’m thinking about it now. What kind of movie it will be, I’m not quite sure. But I want to make something unique and different that can be thought-provoking and, hopefully, entertaining as well. I’m not sure yet how to do that.”

Previous winners of the Golden Bear for Lifetime Achievement include Steven Spielberg, Helen Mirren, and Ian McKellen, as well as Wenders.

Moonflower Killers It was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Following the Berlinale ceremony, the festival screened Scorsese’s 2006 Oscar-winning film The late one.