Martin Scorsesethe new film of which “Killers of the Flower Moon” (The Killers of the Blooming Moon) has generated a lot of interest in the current film awards season, will receive the Honorary Golden Bear for its contribution to cinema at the Berlin Film Festival on February 20.

The directors of the Berlin Film Festival, Carlo Satrian and Mariete Rischenbeck, emphasized that the American director, screenwriter and producer is “an unsurpassed role model” for “anyone who regards cinema as the art of shaping a story in such a way that it is at once wholly personal and universal.”

“His films accompanied our history as viewers and human beings, his characters lived and developed within us, his view of history and humanity helped us understand and question who we are and where we come frompointed out Mr. Satrian and Risenbeck.

Scorsese has a long history with the Berlin Film Festival, including screening the 2008 Rolling Stones concert film Shine a Light which opened the festival’s curtain that year.

His film restoration and distribution initiative, The Film Foundation, has also offered restored editions of several titles for the Berlinale Classics section.

Scorsese’s relationship with the Berlinale began in 1981, when his film Raging Bull was screened at the Festival. His film “Cape Fear” was in the competition section of the Festival in 1991 and 2003 and again in 2010 as part of the tribute his film “Gangs Of New York” was screened.

The world premiere of the director was also presented by Deutsche Kinemathek in the first half of 2013 and ‘The 50 Year Argument’, directed by Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi was presented as a work in progress in 2014.