Berlin International Film Festival is now one of the major European film festivals. Photo / 123RF
Berlin International Film Festival is now one of the major European film festivals. Photo / 123RF
The Berlin International Film Festival has suspended a prize named for its founding director after a German newspaper reported that he was a senior figure in the Nazis' moviemaking bureaucracy.
Alfred Bauer led the "Berlinale" from 1951 to 1976, building the festival into a major draw for then-West Berlin. Itis now one of the major European film festivals.
After he died in 1986, the festival inaugurated an Alfred Bauer Prize, which has been awarded to "a feature film that opens up new perspectives in the field of cinematic art". It is one of several Silver Bear awards, including for best actor and director, that have been bestowed alongside the main prize, the Golden Bear.
The weekly Die Zeit has reported that research indicates Bauer held a senior post in a film directorate set up in 1942 by Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels.
The festival reacted swiftly, saying the report "cast new light" on Bauer's role in Nazi film politics, and it was not previously aware of Bauer having had an important position during the Nazi era.
