Michael Haneke Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts 2013

At its meeting in Oviedo, the Jury for the 2013 Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts, made up of Mr José Luis Cienfuegos Marcello, Mr Marzio Conti, Carlos Fitz-James Stuart Martínez de Irujo, Duke of Huéscar, Mr Josep María Flotats i Picas, Mr Guillermo García-Alcalde Fernández, Ms Carmen Giménez Martín, Ms Catalina Luca de Tena y García-Conde, Mr Hans Meinke Paege, Ms Elena Ochoa Foster, Mr Vicente Todolí Cervera, Mr Carlos Urroz Arancibia, Ms Amelia Valcárcel Bernaldo de Quirós, Mr Benjamin Weil, Mr Miguel Zugaza Miranda, chaired by Mr José Lladó Fernández-Urrutia and with Mr José Antonio Caicoya Cores acting as secretary, has agreed to grant the 2013 Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts to the Austrian film director, screenwriter and playwright Michael Haneke for his filmmaking deeply rooted in European culture. Employing radical sincerity, keen observation and extreme subtlety, his work constitutes an original and highly personal approach to fundamental issues that concern and affect us both individually and collectively.

With dazzling mastery, Haneke highlights and dissects dark aspects of existence such as violence, oppression and disease, which he addresses with extraordinary formal sobriety at the same time as laying open the comforting persistence of love, trust and commitment.

With a constantly evolving filmography, which also stands out for Haneke's prodigious talent for choosing the right actors, this European creator is a major reference in contemporary filmmaking.

Oviedo, 9th May 2013