Isabelle Huppert, a legendary French actress, has tested positive for Covid-19 and will be ineligible to accept her lifetime achievement award at the Berlinale film festival, according to organizers.
Huppert, one of France’s most well-known actresses, was set to receive an honorary Golden Bear award on Tuesday at the 72nd Berlin Film Festival, which is simultaneously showing a retrospective of her work.
However, Huppert tested positive for the coronavirus in Paris and will be unable to attend, according to a statement from the festival. Instead, she will watch the ceremony from afar.
This year’s Berlinale, the first major European film festival of the year, has been chastised for holding an in-person event at a time when Covid-19 cases are on the rise in Germany.
The competition, which will last 11 days, will end on Wednesday with the showing of roughly 250 films, which is a quarter fewer than prior years.
In order to keep audiences safe, the event has limited cinema capacity, testing, and mask regulations.
Local media, on the other hand, have criticized the decision to go forward, with the Berliner Morgenpost predicting a “catastrophe” if the festival becomes a “superspreader event.”
Huppert, 68, has a slew of prizes from the world’s most prestigious film festivals, as well as two Cesar awards (the French Oscar), a BAFTA nomination, and an Academy Award nomination.
She is most known globally for her parts in films such as “The Piano Teacher,” “8 Women,” and “Elle,” where she is known for playing frigid, ethically ambiguous characters.
