Moritz de Hadeln, a pioneering industry professional who led the Berlin, Venice and Locarno Film Festivals, died July 4 of complications from a scheduled medical procedure. He was 85.

Reps close to de Hadeln’s family confirmed the news to Deadline.

De Hadeln was born in the UK city of Exeter on December 21, 1940, the son of former WWII intelligence officer-turned-art book publisher Harry Hudson and Romanian French artist Alexandra Bălăceanu.

He spent his childhood in Florence and the lakeside town of Nyon in the Swiss canton of Vaud, becoming a naturalized Swiss citizen in 1968.

Nicknamed “Mr Film Festival,” de Hadeln was a major figure on the European festival circuit from the late 1960s onward.

After studying physics and chemistry in Paris, de Hadeln segued into photography, cinematography and filmmaking, with his directorial credits including La Pèlé (1963) and Ombres et Mirages (1966).

He met his German-born wife Erika de Hadeln through the latter film, after she worked on the production while studying at the Sorbonne.

They married in 1968, and the following year founded the Nyon International Documentary Film Festival (since renamed Visions du Réel) which would champion the works of Joris Ivens, Roman Karmen, Georges Rouquier, Lothar Wolff, Basil Wright, Georges Dufaux, Herz Frank, Erwin Leiser and Henri Storck in its early days.

Concurrently, he also headed the Locarno International Film Festival from 1972-77, with one of his innovations being the Piazza Grande open-air screenings.

In 1979, de Halden accepted an invitation to take up the baton of festival head at the Berlin Film Festival, leaving his wife to lead Nyon with his support until 1993.

Taking over from film journalist Wolf Donner, de Hadeln would spend more than two decades as the head of the festival, before handing over the baton to Dieter Kosslik.

He is credited with putting the festival on the map as an A-list event, bringing East and West filmmakers together against the backdrop of the Cold War as well as spearheading the growth of the European Film Market with Beki Probst.

Following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, de Hadeln also steered the festival through the reunification of Germany and oversaw its move Potsdamer Platz.

His tenure came to an abrupt end in early 2001, after his contract was terminated unexpectedly, prompting protests from the European film community amid claims of political meddling.

After Berlin, de Hadeln moved to Venice, where he became the first non-Italian director of the festival for two editions, before moving to Canada and helping to establish the Montreal Film Festival. 

He was awarded several national awards during his career, including the Commander in the Order of the Arts and Letters of the French Ministry of Culture (1986), Commander in the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (1988), and Officer in the Order of Merits of the Federal Republic of Germany (2000).

Christian Jungen, head of the Zurich Film Festival, published a nonfiction book about de Hadeln’s life in 2018 titled Mister Filmfestival.

In a statement on social media, the Berlinale described de Hadeln as a “passionate advocate for cinema” who transformed the Berlinale “into one of the leading meeting places for the global film industry.

“Our heartfelt sympathies go out to his family, friends, and colleagues. His legacy will continue to live on through the countless films, artists, and communities he inspired,” the festival’s statement ended.