Pete Hammond originally reported this news yesterday and the press release dropped shortly thereafter, but “Inception” director Christopher Nolan will receive the Santa Barbara International Film Festival’s highest honor — the Modern Master Award — in January. Here’s the release, in part:
Established in 1995, [The Modern Master Award] was created to honor an individual who has enriched our culture through his/her multi-faceted accomplishments in the motion picture industry. Nolan joins an illustrious group of past recipients including Michael Douglas, Jodie Foster, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Diane Keaton, Sean Penn, Jeff Bridges, Peter Jackson, George Clooney, Will Smith, Cate Blanchett, Clint Eastwood, and James Cameron.
“Every one of Nolan’s films has set a new standard for the film community, with Inception being the latest example,” comments [SBIFF Executive Director Roger] Durling. “Nolan was the natural choice for this year’s SBIFF’s Modern Master Award.”
Standing out as one of the greatest minds in cinema, Nolan consistently pushes the boundaries of both filmmaking and storytelling. Demonstrating great versatility throughout his career, he has masterfully taken on the challenges of film as a director, writer, producer, editor, and cinematographer. His films have achieved immense success at the box office, drawing some of the largest profits in history, while at the same time they are recognized and renowned for being intellectually sophisticated and a challenge for all audiences alike.
This is a big feather in Nolan’s cap this season, even though the honor will come after nominations have been announced.
Meanwhile, Warner Bros. sent out a press release yesterday announcing the upcoming release of “Inception” on Blu-ray and DVD on December 7, which is right in the thick of the season and could do the film a world of good. We’ll see how all of that pans out.
There will be more SBIFF awards announcements in the coming weeks.
[Photo: Nolan Fans]
Comments
4 responses to “Nolan tapped for Modern Master Award in Santa Barbara”
I know I am likely to be labeled as a hater (even though I am not) but this write-up is full of overstatements.
Nolan deserves to be praised and deserves the award he is getting but do they really have to claim that “every one of Nolan’s films has set a new standard for the film community”?
That’s simply not true, and this is coming from someone who had seen all of his films (including The Following and Doodlebug) and considers “Memento” to be one of the finest works ever.
It also seems odd that a filmmaker who only ever had two (admitedly huge if expensive) box office smashes is being already praised as someone with who is one of the most profitable filmmakers ever. He isn’t though that might very well change over time.
I am saying all of this because I genuinly like Nolan and I hate to see write-ups that make it sound like something straight out of the mouth the Entertainment’s Tonights “Hollywood Awards” presenter. The end result is that I take the award less seriously. If I didn’t know about Nolan I’d assume I was reading about Cameron Kubrick. That part is subjective though and I’ll give you that.
There is praise and then there is fawning.
The man truly deserves it. Now where’s his Oscar?
The second Pete is not the same as the first one. Just to clarify.
This award is a no brainer. I get the feeling more and more that Inception was much more well received by the industry than critics. We shall see come December and January.