- CEO of the Filmstiftung NRW in Düsseldorf from 1992 to 2001.
- Deputy chairman of the European Film Academy.
- Has been director of the Berlin Film Festival since 1 May 2001.
- Studied politics, pedagogy and communication studies at the University of Munich.
- On behalf of Berlinale protested against the arrest of Jafar Panahi, detained on 1 March 2010 along with Mohammad Rasoulof and Mehdi Pourmoussa. "Prior to his arrest, Panahi had been denied permission to leave his home country for Berlin, where he was to be an honorary guest of the 60th Berlinale and, within the scope of the World Cinema Fund, participate in a panel discussion on the topic 'Iranian Cinema: Present and Future. Expectations Inside and Outside of Iran'. We are concerned and dismayed that a director who has won many international prizes has been arrested due to his work as an artist." Pourmoussa and Rasoulof were released from the Evin prison on 17 March 2010, but Panahi remains in ward 209.
- In 2008 became honorary professor at the Film & Television Academy (HFF) Konrad Wolf in Babelsberg.
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