Moritz de Hadeln (21.12.1940-4.7.2026) has died at the age of 85. His life in two words? A Festival Director: Nyon 1969-79, Locarno 1972-77, Berlin 1980-2001, Venice 2002-03. For us he was more than this.
Born in England in 1940 to an English father, Harry Hudson, who was adopted by the German art historian Detlev Freiherr von Hadeln, later a specialized art publisher in Florence, and a Romanian mother, Alexandra Bălăceanu, a sculptor and painter who emigrated to Paris as a child, Moritz de Hadeln studied in Paris and settled in Zurich in the mid-1960s. He began his career in film as a photographer, cinematographer, and documentary filmmaker. In 1968, he married Erika von dem Hagen, who was his close personal and professional partner until her death in 2018.
In 1969, he founded the prestigious Nyon International Documentary Film Festival, now known as Visions du Réel. He was its first director until 1979, then his wife Erika took over the directorship until 1993. At the same time, from 1972 to 1977, he directed the Locarno Film Festival. Between 1980 and 2001, he directed the Berlin Film Festival, overseeing both the crucial years of the Cold War and the years of German reunification. He then directed the Venice Film Festival in 2002 and 2003.
When someone has been a professional civil servant, moving from one prestigious position to another, one might think they were "everyone's favorite"—one of those seemingly positive expressions that often conceal an unflattering judgment. But this wasn't the case for Moritz de Hadeln. He was a man of dialogue, seldomly opposed by the more identitarian fringes of society. In Locarno and then in Berlin, he worked hard to assert the independence of festivals from politics (meaning, from government influence), showing films from socialist countries and China in the West. Outside his office in Berlin, he hung the Swiss flag (he obtained Swiss citizenship in 1986) to affirm that in that room there was the necessary neutrality to meet everyone.
Moritz de Hadeln lived an intense life at the pinnacle of international culture, but we remember him in particular for one thing: as director of Locarno in 1973, he initiated the first Ecumenical Jury in history, uniting the work of the Protestant organization INTERFILM and the Catholic OCIC (now Signis Cinema). Along with de Hadeln, it's worth remembering the key figures in that transformation: Yvan Stern, secretary for communications for the Catholic bishop of Fribourg-Lausanne; Father Ambros Eichenberger, commissioner of Catholic media in Zurich; Pastor Maurice Terrail of Lausanne, director of the Protestant Film Office; and Pastor Dölf Rindlisbacher of Bern, commissioner of Protestant media.
Let's pause for a moment to reflect on the significance of Moritz de Hadeln's proposal to Catholic and Protestant film enthusiasts. Collateral juries anticipated what happens today on social media: providing an alternative to the official decision, with the difference that the judgment is expressed by a select group of people and not by an influencer. Festivals welcome collateral juries because their judgment doesn't undermine the prestige of the official award, but affirming festivals themselves as the forum for film discussions, the place to be to understand where culture in general and cinema in particular is headed. From this perspective, the presence of two separate juries, one Catholic and one Protestant, makes sense. Decades of ecumenism have brought Catholics and Protestants closer together: theology students themselves study texts written by professors of both confessions, just to mention one example.
However, different sensibilities remain. That said, Moritz de Hadeln's challenge to the churches was: can't you take one more step? Can't you try to bring these sensibilities into dialogue? Can't you find a film that you can agree on, that you can present to your churches as a shared choice, and that thereby acquires greater value? Being part of a jury means submitting your judgment to others, who at the same time submit theirs to you. In other words, it means exposing yourself and getting to know each other. Isn't it worth trying to do so with someone who is a slightly different Christian than you?
For the record, that first Ecumenical Prize went to the Polish film The Illumination (Illuminacja), by Krzysztof Zanussi, who also won the Golden Leopard. The reaction in Poland to the film's criticism of the communist regime led Zanussi to declare that he was unaware that the film was competing at Locarno.
Moritz de Hadeln didn't come from the church, and we don't know if he belonged to a specific denomination, but he was one of those people of peace, dialogue, and culture who understood the importance of ecumenism, even in the secular context of film festivals. Thanks to his vision, today INTERFILM and Signis Cinema are international partners, and their members share a friendship, respect, and close collaboration. For this reason, not only do we remember him today with a profound sense of gratitude, but we also consider him an important traveling companion in the mission of building a world of peace through culture and ecumenism.
For this, too, INTERFILM and Signis Cinema awarded an honorary Ecumenical Prize to Moritz and Erika de Hadeln during the 2001 Berlinale.
(Originally published in Italian in https://www.associazioneprotestantecinema.it/moritz-de-hadeln-1940-2026-iniziatore-delle-giurie-ecumeniche/