New Zealand film master and Oscar-winning director Peter Jackson will be awarded the honorary Palme d'Or for lifetime achievement at this year's Cannes Film Festival. The three-time Oscar winner, best known for directing The Lord of the Rings trilogy, will receive this prestigious honor at the opening ceremony of the 79th Cannes Film Festival, scheduled for May 12 local time.
The festival organizers stated that this honorary Palme d'Or is to recognize Jackson's ability to successfully integrate large-scale Hollywood commercial films with the spirit of auteur cinema throughout his career, creating uniquely styled films with “extraordinary artistic vision and technical audacity.”
Jackson commented: “Receiving the honorary Palme d'Or at Cannes is one of the greatest honors of my career. Cannes has always been a very important part of my film journey. In 1988, I attended the festival market with my very first film, Bad Taste; in 2001, we screened preview footage of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring here. These became important milestones in my career. Cannes has always championed bold and visionary filmmaking, and I am very grateful to the festival for allowing me to stand alongside the filmmakers and artists who have always inspired me.”
In addition to The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Jackson also directed King Kong and The Hobbit trilogy. He was initially known for low-budget, gory horror films, including cult classics such as Bad Taste and Braindead. In recent years, he has turned to documentary filmmaking, such as They Shall Not Grow Old, which restored and colorized World War I footage, and the documentary series The Beatles: Get Back.
Source: Liberty Times