Haro Senft Wins Berlinale Camera

9:34 AM PST 1/18/2012 by Scott Roxborough

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The Oscar-nominated director was one of the pioneers of New German Cinema.

COLOGNE, Germany – German director Haro Senft, one of the pioneers of the New German Cinema movement of the 1960s and 70s, will receive a Berlinale Camera award at this year’s Berlin international film festival.

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The Berlinale Camera honors are awarded to people or institutions who have made a major contribution to the Berlin festival or German cinema.

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Though not as famous as his contemporaries Wim Wenders, Werner Herzog, Rainer Werner Fassbinder or Volker Schlondorff, Senft was a influential force in post-war German cinema and was chairman of the association of new German feature film producers for several years. He earned an Oscar nomination for his documentary short, Khal in 1961, about the building of Germany’s first nuclear power plant, and gave Swiss star Bruno Ganz (Downfall) his first major role, in the 1967 drama Der sanfte Lauf.

Berlin festival director Dieter Kosslick presented Sanft his Berlinale Camera at his home in Munich. The Berlin festival will hold an official award ceremony for Senft Feb. 15 in Berlin.