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The Nazi past of the Berlinale’s founding director Alfred Bauer, which only publicly emerged in 2020, did not influence its structure and program under his directorship from 1951 to 1976, a new study by the festival has concluded.

The joint expanded report, carried out in partnership with the Leibniz Institute for Contemporary History (LfZ), follows a preliminary joint investigation, commissioned in response to revelations in the German newspaper Die Zeit in early 2020 that Bauer had played a significant role in the filmmaking apparatus of the Nazi regime.

The new study was set in motion to ascertain whether Bauer’s previous Nazi sympathies had influenced the editions of the festival that he led. The Berlinale will hold a public panel on November 2 to discuss the findings of the report.

“We wish to thank the LfZ for the extensive, detailed research on Alfred Bauer. Since 2020, there has been the certainty that Bauer held a...

The Berlin Film Festival was not significantly shaped by the Nazi activities of Alfred Bauer, its first festival director, new research has found. But the festival will hold itself up for scrutiny, with a public discussion next month about Bauer and how he disguised his affiliations.

Revelations about Bauer’s past came to the surface in January 2020 due to reporting by Die Zeit newspaper.

Bauer, a film historian, was appointed to head the festival in 1951 following its inception by Oscar Martay, a film officer in the U.S. Army who worked in the Information Service Branch of the U.S. High Commissioner for Germany. Bauer oversaw the Berlinale until 1976. The festival introduced the Alfred Bauer Prize in his honor following his death in 1986.

The festival cancelled the award and commissioned the independent Leibniz Institute for Contemporary History (IfZ) to examine Bauer’s position in the Nazi film bureaucracy more closely.

The...

Stockholm (AP) — Malik Bendjelloul, the cash-strapped freelance film maker who shot to Hollywood stardom overnight with the Oscar-winning music documentary "Searching for Sugar Man," has died. He was 36. Swedish police spokeswoman Pia Glenvik told The Associated Press that Bendjelloul died in Stockholm late Tuesday, but wouldn't specify where his body was found or the cause of death. She said no crime is suspected in relation to the filmmaker's death. "Searching for Sugar Man," which tells the story of how American singer Sixto Rodriguez became a superstar in South Africa without knowing about it, won the Oscar for best documentary in 2013. It was the first time a Swedish film had won an Oscar since Ingmar Bergman's "Fanny and Alexander" in 1984. The film also won several other prizes, including a British BAFTA for best documentary and the Swedish Guldbagge award. Bendjelloul came across the story about Rodriguez, who had disappeared from public life in the U.

Madrid — Renowned Cuban pianist Bebo Valdes, a composer and bandleader who recorded with Nat "King" Cole, was musical director at Havana's legendary Tropicana Club and a key participant in the golden age of Cuban music, has died in Sweden at age 94.

The news of his death was confirmed by Cindy Byram, the agent of Valdes' son Chucho Valdes, who is a well-known musician in his own right. A cause of death was not given.

The senior Valdes studied piano and later taught it to Chucho (Jesus Dionisio Valdes), who went on to become a founding member of the internationally acclaimed Cuban-based jazz band Irakere.

The father began playing accompaniments at Havana's famous night clubs in the 1940s. He then worked with singer Rita Montaner as her pianist and arranger from 1948 to 1957, when she was the lead cabaret act at the Tropicana.

His orchestra Sabor de Cuba also accompanied singers Benny...