‘Hamnet’ composer Max Richter to receive Berlinale Camera Honor

German-born British composer Max Richter, who not too long ago collaborated with Chloé Zhao on her Golden Globe-winning “Hamnet,” shall be celebrated by the Berlin Film Festival with its Berlinale Camera award.

Richter, whose credit in addition to “Hamnet” embrace titles such as “Waltz with Bashir,” “Ad Astra,” “Mary Queen of Scots” and HBO sequence “The Leftovers,” will receive the Berlin honor from Zhao on Feb. 18, at Berlin’s Haus der Berliner Festspiele adopted by a panel dialogue.

The composer whose work combines classical methods with digital components is also recognized for solo initiatives such as his seminal 2004 album “The Blue Notebooks,” and his magnum opus “Sleep” (2015), an 8,5-hour exploration of sound and the sleeping thoughts, co-created with Yulia Mahr. Richter’s latest solo album “In A Landscape”| was launched in 2024.

“With over one billion streams and numerous awards — including the European Film Award for ‘Waltz with Bashir’ and a Grammy nomination for “Ad Astra” — Richter has left an enduring mark on up to date movie music,” the fest said in an announcement.

“Max Richter is one of the great contemporary composers, and film fans can count themselves lucky that he has such a profound passion for cinema,” Berlinale Director Tricia Tuttle said in the assertion. “His compositions for film are more than accompaniment; they are narratives that make the heart of a story audible and deepen and transform the cinematic language.”

Richter has long-standing ties to the Berlin fest. In 2009, he served as a mentor at the Berlinale Talent Campus (now called Berlinale Talents). He returned most not too long ago in 2024 for the world premiere of Johan Renck’s sc-fi movie “Spaceman,” starring Adam Sandler, for which he wrote the score.

Previous Berlinale Camera Award honorees embrace Agnes Varda, Rainer Rother, Richard Linklater, and Edgar Reitz. 

The upcoming 76th Berlin Film Festival will run Feb. 12-22.

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