The 69th Festival del film Locarno will pay homage to German actor Mario Adorf, honoring him with this year’s Pardo alla carriera. The award ties in with the 2016 Retrospective on film in the early years of the Federal Republic of Germany after World War II (1949 – 1963), but is also a tribute to his extraordinary range of performances across a career stretching over more than sixty years.

Born in 1930, Mario Adorf is one of the best known German screen personalities both at home and internationally. Swiss-born but with an Italian father, Adorf has acted in over 200 films for cinema and television, working with foremost directors such as Sam Peckinpah, Dario Argento, Luigi Comencini, Carlo Mazzacurati, Franco Rossi, Wolfgang Staudte, Edgar Reitz, Billy Wilder, Volker Schlöndorff, Helmut Dietl, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Claude Chabrol and Sergio Corbucci.

The Locarno Festival’s homage to Mario Adorf will be enhanced by the screening of several films showing as part of the 2016 Retrospective: Nachts, wenn der Teufel kam by Robert Siodmak (1957), Der Arzt von Stalingrad by Géza von Radványi (1958) and Am Tag, als der Regen kam by Gerd Oswald (1959). But the tribute will also feature screenings of later performances in such films as A cavallo della tigreby Luigi Comencini (1961) and La mala ordina by Fernando Di Leo (1972). Over the years Adorf has secured a loyal following not only as a popular actor but also as a writer and presenter – a man of many parts who has made versatility the keynote of his career.

“The seemingly endless gallery of characters played by Mario Adorf surely offers convincing proof of the rich and varied offering that has inspired the Festival program. This year’s Retrospective on German cinema has given us a golden opportunity to honor this remarkable actor, whose performances are equally assured whether in arthouse pictures or mainstream movies, in comedy or dramatic roles. He has left his mark not just on German but on European cinema, with a legacy spanning different cultures, periods and forms of expression.” Carlo Chatrian, Artistic Director of the Festival

The Locarno tribute to Mario Adorf will include a special conversation with the Festival audience.