Director Wim Wenders to receive German Film Academy's honorary award

Director Wim Wenders, 80, will receive the German Film Academy's honorary award this year, the academy said on Tuesday.

Wenders will be honoured at the German Film Awards ceremony in Berlin on May 29 for his outstanding services to German cinema, the academy said. His films include "Paris, Texas," "Wings of Desire" and "Perfect Days."

The German Film Academy presents the annual German Film Awards, which are a kind of German Oscars. Just like their better known US award, German academy members vote on which film should receive the Golden Lola for best feature film, among other awards.

"Wim Wenders is absolutely unique as a filmmaker and has been an icon of world cinema for more than five decades," academy president Florian Gallenberger said.

Wenders had made feature films and documentaries, "created the greatest soundtracks of all time," won virtually every festival and worked with the biggest stars, Gallenberger, who is also a director, said.

But above all, Wenders had enriched millions of people "by showing us time and again that the true secrets of life can only be discovered beyond the facade of mundane reality." Wenders succeeds in "capturing the inexplicable magic and the fragile beauty of life for a moment and thus making it tangible for his viewers," Gallenberger said.

Most recently, Wenders also served as jury president of the Berlinale. At this year's international film festival, there were debates about the extent to which filmmakers must take political positions, for example on the Middle East conflict. Wenders' statement that filmmakers were a counterweight to active politics, was also much discussed.

Nominations for the other awards are set to be announced on March 31.