Even at the age of 76, Steven Spielberg is not thinking about retiring. At the Berlinale, the star director still receives the award for his life’s work. It is presented to him by U2 singer Bono.
Legendary director Steven Spielberg was honored with the Berlinale’s Honorary Golden Bear for his life’s work on Tuesday evening. U2 frontman Bono took over the laudatory speech and presented him with the award. “Tonight Steven Spielberg receives the Golden Bear for the right reasons,” said the musician in his speech. “But his life’s work is not just his work. It’s his life, his family.”
Spielberg is “the soul of cinema,” the 62-year-old continued. “He’s been digging up the past for decades to see what that means for the present,” Bono also compared the director to his historical figures.
Spielberg, on the other hand, said in his speech that he was “a little disturbed when I’m told that I’ve lived a lifetime – because I’m not finished and want to continue working”. He wants to “keep learning and exploring and scaring me to death and scaring you to death. I have to go back to some of those earlier scary movies, but that’s another story.”
As long as he enjoys his work and his audience can find happiness and other human values in his films, he won’t stop, the director, producer and screenwriter said. The honor has a very special meaning for him, “because I’m a Jewish director. I want to believe that this is a small moment and a much larger, ongoing effort to heal the broken places in history.”
Spielberg appeared on the red carpet before the honorary bear was awarded and was then greeted with standing ovations lasting several minutes in the Berlinale Palast. The 76-year-old entered the hall accompanied by his wife Kate Capshaw.
Spielberg also presented his partially autobiographical work “The Fabelmans” at the Berlinale. The film is loosely based on Spielberg’s childhood. It is about Sammy Fabelman (Gabriel LaBelle), who grows up in post-war Arizona and gets the idea of becoming a film director after a spectacular train accident.