After Agnès Varda, Marco Bellocchio, Jodie Foster, Meryl Streep, and last year Robert De Niro, New Zealand filmmaker Peter Jackson will receive an Honorary Palme d’Or at the Festival de Cannes in recognition of a body of work that “blends Hollywood blockbusters and films d’auteur with extraordinary artistic vision and technological audacity”.
“To be honoured with an Honorary Palme d’Or at Cannes is one of the greatest privileges of my career,” Oscar winner Jackson said.
“Cannes has been a meaningful part of my filmmaking journey. In 1988, I attended the Festival Marketplace with my first movie, Bad Taste, then in 2001 we screened a preview sequence from The Fellowship of the Ring, both of which were important milestones in my career.
“This festival has always celebrated bold, visionary cinema, and I’m incredibly grateful to the Festival de Cannes for being recognised among the filmmakers and the artists whose work continues to inspire me.”
“Festival president Iris Knobloch is delighted that, ‘for its 79th year, the Festival welcomes and thanks a filmmaker of boundless creativity who has brought prestige to the heroic fantasy genre,’” a press release said.
Festival director Thierry Frémaux added that there is “clearly a before and an after Peter Jackson”.
“Larger-than-life cinema is his trademark, and his all-encompassing art of entertainment is particularly ambitious. He has permanently transformed Hollywood cinema and its conception of the spectacle,” he continued.
“But Peter Jackson is not only a great technician; he is above all a tremendous storyteller. And an unpredictable artist: what will his next universe be?”
More information is available on the Festival de Cannes website.
