Press release from 10.04.2024
John Malkovich receives the Bremen Film Award 2024
As part of the Filmfest Gala on April 10, Sparkasse Bremen awarded the Bremen Film Prize 2024 to the American actor and producer John Malkovich for his complete cinematic oeuvre. The prize, endowed with 8,000 euros, is awarded in close cooperation with Filmfest Bremen.
On Wednesday evening, the red carpet was rolled out in Bremen for Hollywood legend John Malkovich. The actor opened the festive gala evening with his walk across Goetheplatz in front of numerous cameras and ensured glamor and real festival flair in the Hanseatic city. The award winner was duly celebrated in the sold-out theater hall. As the highlight of the gala, Klaus Windheuser, CEO of Sparkasse Bremen, presented John Malkovich with the Bremen Film Award on stage to great applause.
“I am delighted to be able to honor a very special award winner today. A character actor who is just as much at home on the world’s theater stages as he is on the film set. John Malkovich is not only an actor, but also a film producer and theater director and one of the few artists who has succeeded in shaping both American and European cinema and theater,” emphasized Windheuser at this year’s award ceremony for John Malkovich.
For festival director Matthias Greving, it was a great success to bring the renowned Hollywood star to Bremen. “John Malkovich inspires audiences all over the world and he has given us and the city of Bremen a great gift with his contribution to the gala, his stage presence and his participation in the festival, which will strengthen the importance of the Bremen Film Festival in the long term.”
John Malkovich’s reputation and popularity were underlined by the festive supporting program at the award ceremony. The clever and very personal laudatory speech by director Volker Schlöndorff (Oscar winner for “Die Blechtrommel”, among others), who has known John Malkovich since the 1980s, inspired and touched the audience and award winners, as did the rousing musical performances by the Bremen Philharmonic Orchestra. Under the direction of Marko Letonja, they paid tribute to the prizewinner with the pieces “Korngold”, “Orpheus” and “Nimrod”.
The jury statement for the Bremen Film Prize reads: “For over four decades, his choice of roles has been just as varied as the spectrum of film genres in which he breathes life into his characters in an inimitable way. (….) With subtlety and authenticity, he makes people empathize, think, fear and laugh. (….) With John Malkovich, we honor an icon of Hollywood and European film, a character actor who easily reinvents himself with every role, yet always remains unmistakably the unique John Malkovich, capable of captivating audiences of all ages and backgrounds. Even in the darkest of movie worlds (…) he always manages to give the audience a sense of what a better world could look like.”
Sparkasse Bremen has been honoring personalities from the European film scene for their many years of service with the Bremen Film Prize since 1999. Since 2021, it has presented the award in cooperation with Filmfest Bremen, whose trademark, the Golden Pug, has also served as a trophy for the Bremen Film Prize. Previous winners include renowned filmmakers from a wide range of disciplines, including writers and directors such as Agnes Varda, Lars von Trier and Aki Kaurismäki and actors such as Tilda Swinton, Nina Hoss and Bruno Ganz. Last year, the Bremen Film Prize went to actress and director Maria Schrader. In 2024, the Bremen Film Prize was awarded internationally for the first time and an American artist, John Malkovich, was honored.
Following the award ceremony, the curtains of Theater Bremen rose once again for John Malkovich: this time not as a guest of honor, but as a performer. Together with the violinist and conductor Aleksey Igudesman and four other brilliant musicians, John Malkovich slipped into the roles of historical music critics for 70 minutes, in order to delightfully tear apart masterpieces by Beethoven, Brahms and Debussy in his inimitable style before everyone’s eyes and ears. The performance of “An Evening of Music and Humor with John Malkovich” concluded the festive and entertaining gala evening for all the senses.
All photos: Manja Herrmann; Filmfest Bremen. Free to use for reporting purposes.
https://cloud.filmfestbremen.com/s/6x5PLEXKxWjbmHw
The Sparkasse Bremen
With total assets of more than 14.5 billion euros and around 1,160 employees, Sparkasse Bremen is the market leader for financial services in the Hanseatic city. Founded as Freie Sparkasse in 1825 by the citizens of Bremen, it is now one of the largest savings banks in Germany. It is a strong partner for SMEs and supports entrepreneurial growth with industry expertise and local competence. It invests a significant proportion of its income in the quality of life of Bremen’s citizens – from kindergartens and sports clubs to the city’s major cultural highlights. Special attention is paid to the promotion of children and young people.
Filmfest Bremen
The Filmfest Bremen, headed by festival director Matthias Greving and program director Ilona Rieke, is the only German festival with an international competition for humor and satire. In addition, there are the diverse international competitions for innovation and German premieres as well as a regional competition for short and feature-length films related to the Bremen region.