The prize was awarded at a ceremony at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, attended by Portugal’s Minister of Culture, Luis Filipe Castro Mendes.
The European Helena Vaz da Silva Prize is awarded by the Lisbon-based National Centre for Culture (CNC), a non-governmental entity, in cooperation with the pan-European cultural network, Europa Nostra, which it represents in Portugal.
The prize is to distinguish people who contribute to the protection of Europe’s cultural heritage and ideals.
Wenders was chosen “for his exceptional contribution to Europe’s multicultural history and of European ideals,” according to the CNC, which established the prize in 2013.
The organisation’s president, Maria Calado, speaking on behalf on the jury, is quoted as describing Wim Wenders as “a key figure in contemporary European cinema” and “a staunch defender of Europe [and] its rich cultural heritage”. She cited his “innovative films, photography exhibitions, monographs, books of film and collections of prose.”
In this, the fifth year of the prize, the international jury also decided on “special recognition” for a Member of the European Parliament from Italy, Silva Costa, of the Alliance of Socialists and Democrats Group.
She is being recognised for her contribution to the development of the European Union’s strategy on cultural heritage and the promotion of the 2018 European Year of Cultural Heritage.