Isabelle Huppert, this year’s recipient of the Berlinale’s Honorary Golden Bear, has pulled out of attending the festival after testing positive for COVID in Paris.
The festival confirmed the French star’s absence on Monday night.
“Unfortunately, today Isabelle Huppert has been tested positive for the coronavirus in Paris and therefore she will not be able to attend the Berlin International Film Festival,” reads a statement from the Berlinale.
“While informing the festival, she emphasized that she feels very dedicated to the Berlinale and wants to participate in any possible way also to support her latest film ‘À Propos de Joan.’”
Berlinale artistic director Carlo Chatrian explained that because Huppert “doesn’t feel sick,” the festival will go ahead with its planned ceremony on Tuesday honoring the “Elle” actor with its lifetime achievement award. Huppert join in via a live link from Paris. The ceremony will be followed by a screening of “À Propos de Joan.”
However, a planned “Berlinale Homage: In Conversation with Isabelle Huppert” event, organized under the Berlinale Talents program, has been canceled.
Huppert has a longstanding relationship with Berlin, and has starred in seven competition films to date.
She was first a guest in Berlin with Jacques Doillon’s “La vengeance d’une femme” before appearing in Francois Ozon’s “8 Femmes” as an unprepossessing woman who emerges in the end as a confident beauty. The ensemble cast was awarded a Silver Bear for outstanding artistic accomplishment. Meanwhile, in “L’Avenir” she plays a woman re-discovering her freedom as a philosophy teacher in a failing marriage. Director Mia Hansen-Løve won the Silver Bear as best director for the film.
Huppert’s absence is the latest headache for Berlin, which has endured a number of unfortunate incidents, including technical difficulties during its opening night film, Francois Ozon’s “Peter von Kant,” as well as a break-in at the EFM studio, where key equipment was stolen overnight.
On Sunday, organizers confirmed that the festival has recorded 54 positive COVID cases from 2,700 tests.