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Swiss film producer honoured at Berlin Film Festival

Swiss producer Arthur Cohn was recently recognised for his career achievements with the Cinema for Peace award at the Berlin Film Festival. The 92-year-old has won numerous honours, including six Oscars.

Cohn received the award on Monday evening from American actress Faye Dunaway and former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder.

His best-known productions include Il giardino dei Finzi-Contini (1972), Black and White in Color (1976), Dangerous Moves (1984), Central Station (1998) and One Day in September (1999).

In his acceptance speech, Cohn emphasised his productions have always been guided by the emotional side of history. He expressed his wish that today’s cinema would contain less sex and violence, but more humanistic values. Cohn received a long standing ovation.

The Cinema for Peace Foundation aims to promote “peace and understanding around the world. ” Previous winners include U.S. actors Leonardo DiCaprio, Nicole Kidman and Charlize Theron, the Dalai Lama, former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev and former U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

In addition to the six Oscars Cohn has received for his film productions, he has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, three honorary doctorates – one of them from the University of Basel in his hometown – and the highest French distinction, Commander of Order of Arts and Letters. 


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SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR