Berlinale Camera 2026: Award for Contemporary Composer and Artist Max Richter

At the 76th Berlin International Film Festival, British-German contemporary composer and artist Max Richter will be honoured with the Berlinale Camera. The laudatory speech will be delivered by Oscar-winning director Chloé Zhao, with whom Richter recently collaborated on her latest film Hamnet.

Max Richter is regarded as one of the most influential composers of our time and has set new standards in film music.

Richter blends classical composition techniques with electronic elements, creating scores that intensify visual storytelling and are celebrated worldwide. His work for international films such as Waltz with Bashir (2008, by Ari Folman), Ad Astra (2019, by James Gray), Mary Queen of Scots (2018, by Josie Rourke), and the HBO series The Leftovers (2014—2017, created by Damon Lindelof), combines emotional depth with innovative soundscapes. 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 a lasting mark on contemporary film music. His recent works, Hamnet (2025, by Chloé Zhao) and Spaceman (2024, by Johan Renck), reaffirm his role as a creative visionary.

Beyond his film work and collaborations, Richter’s solo projects have shaped modern classical music. Even after its 20th anniversary in 2024, his seminal album “The Blue Notebooks” continues to reach new audiences. His magnum opus “SLEEP” (2015), an 8,5-hour exploration of sound and the sleeping mind, co-created with Yulia Mahr, is considered one of the most ambitious and culturally significant classical music projects of the 21st century. Richter’s last solo album “In A Landscape” was released in 2024.

Berlinale Director Tricia Tuttle: “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. 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.”

Max Richter has long-standing ties to the Berlin International Film Festival. In 2009, he served as a mentor at the Berlinale Talent Campus (now Berlinale Talents) and returned most recently in 2024 for the world premiere of Spaceman in the Berlinale Special Gala section.

The presentation of the Berlinale Camera to Max Richter will take place on February 18, 2026, at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele.

The laudatory speech will be delivered by Oscar-winning director Chloé Zhao (Nomadland). Following the award ceremony, there will be a panel discussion with Max Richter.

Since 1986, the Berlinale Camera has honoured individuals and institutions that have made outstanding contributions to filmmaking and with whom the festival feels a special connection. The Berlinale Camera consists of 128 individual parts and is modeled after a real film camera. It is crafted by Düsseldorf-based goldsmith artist Georg Hornemann.