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| Steve McQueen honoured with BFI fellowship at London film festival Steve McQueen honoured with BFI fellowship at London film festival | |
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| It was the culmination of a film festival that attempted to correct a bias against celebrating black screen talent: Steve McQueen, the film-maker, screenwriter and Turner prizewinning artist, was awarded the British Film Institute fellowship on Saturday by his friend and collaborator, the actor Michael Fassbender, in a starry awards ceremony that closed the annual London film festival. McQueen is the first black director or producer to receive the film industry honour. | It was the culmination of a film festival that attempted to correct a bias against celebrating black screen talent: Steve McQueen, the film-maker, screenwriter and Turner prizewinning artist, was awarded the British Film Institute fellowship on Saturday by his friend and collaborator, the actor Michael Fassbender, in a starry awards ceremony that closed the annual London film festival. McQueen is the first black director or producer to receive the film industry honour. |
| The director of 12 Years a Slave celebrated his achievement with his producer wife, Bianca Stigter, and family and friends at a gala dinner in Whitehall’s historic Banqueting Hall, also attended by film stars Alicia Vikander, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Anna Friel, Lily James, David Tennant, Kerry Fox, Matthew Macfadyen and Michael Sheen, who hosted the awards ceremony. | The director of 12 Years a Slave celebrated his achievement with his producer wife, Bianca Stigter, and family and friends at a gala dinner in Whitehall’s historic Banqueting Hall, also attended by film stars Alicia Vikander, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Anna Friel, Lily James, David Tennant, Kerry Fox, Matthew Macfadyen and Michael Sheen, who hosted the awards ceremony. |
| London-born McQueen, best known to film fans for his Oscar-winning epic story of a slave’s struggle for freedom in pre-civil war America, follows in the footsteps of Australian actress Cate Blanchett, who won the accolade last year, and British director Stephen Frears, who was honoured in 2014. Previous recipients include the late Sir Christopher Lee. | London-born McQueen, best known to film fans for his Oscar-winning epic story of a slave’s struggle for freedom in pre-civil war America, follows in the footsteps of Australian actress Cate Blanchett, who won the accolade last year, and British director Stephen Frears, who was honoured in 2014. Previous recipients include the late Sir Christopher Lee. |
| Fassbender described his friend as a “sensitive and dangerous” man as he introduced him, adding: “He’s like a very light hippo – an anomaly.” | Fassbender described his friend as a “sensitive and dangerous” man as he introduced him, adding: “He’s like a very light hippo – an anomaly.” |
| McQueen used his acceptance speech to highlight the festival’s theme of encouraging diversity, describing himself as working class. “There are only two things I really know,” he said. “One of them is that I’m black and the other one is that I’m a Londoner. Everything else I don’t know. But I know I’ve had the possibility of exploring and of being reckless and of experimenting because I didn’t pay to go to university. | McQueen used his acceptance speech to highlight the festival’s theme of encouraging diversity, describing himself as working class. “There are only two things I really know,” he said. “One of them is that I’m black and the other one is that I’m a Londoner. Everything else I don’t know. But I know I’ve had the possibility of exploring and of being reckless and of experimenting because I didn’t pay to go to university. |
| “I had the freedom to experiment and it seems to me that is being slowly eradicated. It is our job in this room to keep these doors open for people who don’t have all those chances.” | “I had the freedom to experiment and it seems to me that is being slowly eradicated. It is our job in this room to keep these doors open for people who don’t have all those chances.” |
| The award of the fellowship was the culmination of the BFI’s attempts to put black artists on centre stage, with a Black Star season of films to follow. | The award of the fellowship was the culmination of the BFI’s attempts to put black artists on centre stage, with a Black Star season of films to follow. |
| “As winner of both the Turner prize and an Academy Award, Steve is pre-eminent in the world of film and the moving image. He is one of the most influential and important British artists of the past 25 years and his work, both short and long form, has consistently explored the endurance of humanity – even when it is confronted by inhumane cruelty – with a poetry and visual style that he has made his own,” said Josh Berger, chairman of the BFI. | “As winner of both the Turner prize and an Academy Award, Steve is pre-eminent in the world of film and the moving image. He is one of the most influential and important British artists of the past 25 years and his work, both short and long form, has consistently explored the endurance of humanity – even when it is confronted by inhumane cruelty – with a poetry and visual style that he has made his own,” said Josh Berger, chairman of the BFI. |
| “We are thrilled that Steve has become a BFI fellow.” | “We are thrilled that Steve has become a BFI fellow.” |
| Before striking Oscar gold in 2014, McQueen, 47, stepped nimbly between the world of art to the world of film with his acclaimed 2008 first feature Hunger. Starring Fassbender as hunger striker Bobby Sands, it won the Camera d’Or at the Cannes film festival and many other international prizes. | Before striking Oscar gold in 2014, McQueen, 47, stepped nimbly between the world of art to the world of film with his acclaimed 2008 first feature Hunger. Starring Fassbender as hunger striker Bobby Sands, it won the Camera d’Or at the Cannes film festival and many other international prizes. |
| His uncompromising second full-length feature, Shame, also starred Fassbender, alongside Carey Mulligan, and told a bleak story of sexual addiction. It won two best film awards when it premiered at the Venice film festival in 2011, as well as winning Fassbender the Volpi Cup for best actor. | His uncompromising second full-length feature, Shame, also starred Fassbender, alongside Carey Mulligan, and told a bleak story of sexual addiction. It won two best film awards when it premiered at the Venice film festival in 2011, as well as winning Fassbender the Volpi Cup for best actor. |
| McQueen’s biggest hit, 12 Years A Slave, was adapted from the memoir of Solomon Northup, a former black slave from New York state, and was released in 2013, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Lupita Nyong’o, Brad Pitt and, once again, Fassbender. The director is currently working on heist thriller Widows, with a screenplay written by Gillian Flynn, author of Gone Girl. It is based on Lynda La Plante’s 1980s TV series. | McQueen’s biggest hit, 12 Years A Slave, was adapted from the memoir of Solomon Northup, a former black slave from New York state, and was released in 2013, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Lupita Nyong’o, Brad Pitt and, once again, Fassbender. The director is currently working on heist thriller Widows, with a screenplay written by Gillian Flynn, author of Gone Girl. It is based on Lynda La Plante’s 1980s TV series. |
| During his career as a groundbreaking contemporary artist, McQueen often worked in film and video and was awarded an Institute of Contemporary Arts Futures award in 1996 in recognition of his promise. Shortly after, he picked up a scholarship to Berlin and exhibited at the ICA site and at the Kunsthalle in Zürich, Switzerland, before winning the coveted Turner prize with footage that paid homage to the silent film era in Hollywood. | During his career as a groundbreaking contemporary artist, McQueen often worked in film and video and was awarded an Institute of Contemporary Arts Futures award in 1996 in recognition of his promise. Shortly after, he picked up a scholarship to Berlin and exhibited at the ICA site and at the Kunsthalle in Zürich, Switzerland, before winning the coveted Turner prize with footage that paid homage to the silent film era in Hollywood. |
| His artwork found controversy in 2003, when he was appointed official war artist for the Iraq war by the Imperial War Museum and produced the project Queen and Country, which is still ongoing and features sheets of postage stamps bearing images of the faces of soldiers killed in action. His artwork is held in museums around the world and the Art Institute of Chicago and the Schaulager in Basel, Switzerland, have recently mounted a solo show of his work. He was awarded the OBE in 2002 and the CBE in 2011. | His artwork found controversy in 2003, when he was appointed official war artist for the Iraq war by the Imperial War Museum and produced the project Queen and Country, which is still ongoing and features sheets of postage stamps bearing images of the faces of soldiers killed in action. His artwork is held in museums around the world and the Art Institute of Chicago and the Schaulager in Basel, Switzerland, have recently mounted a solo show of his work. He was awarded the OBE in 2002 and the CBE in 2011. |
| The film Certain Women, directed by Kelly Reichardt, was the big festival competition winner on Saturday night, when it was selected as best film. Reichardt’s film is a study of the lives of three very different women living in Montana. “In a vibrant year for cinema, it was the masterful mise en scène and quiet modesty of this film that determined our choice for best film. A humane and poignant story that calibrates with startling vulnerability and delicate understatement the isolation, frustrations and loneliness of lives unlived in a quiet corner of rural America,” said the jury. | The film Certain Women, directed by Kelly Reichardt, was the big festival competition winner on Saturday night, when it was selected as best film. Reichardt’s film is a study of the lives of three very different women living in Montana. “In a vibrant year for cinema, it was the masterful mise en scène and quiet modesty of this film that determined our choice for best film. A humane and poignant story that calibrates with startling vulnerability and delicate understatement the isolation, frustrations and loneliness of lives unlived in a quiet corner of rural America,” said the jury. |
| The winning film in the first feature category, receiving the Sutherland Award, was Julia Ducournau’s shocking but playful tale of horror RAW, about a young woman’s insatiable appetite for flesh. | The winning film in the first feature category, receiving the Sutherland Award, was Julia Ducournau’s shocking but playful tale of horror RAW, about a young woman’s insatiable appetite for flesh. |
| The Grierson award for best documentary of the festival went to Starless Dreams which was written, produced and directed by Merhdad Oskouei and is a complex portrait of juvenile delinquent women at the extreme margins of Iranian society. | The Grierson award for best documentary of the festival went to Starless Dreams which was written, produced and directed by Merhdad Oskouei and is a complex portrait of juvenile delinquent women at the extreme margins of Iranian society. |
| Directed by the team of Issa Touma, a Syrian photographer, Thomas Vroege and Floor van de Muelen, 9 Days – From My Window in Aleppo was the winner in the short film category. | Directed by the team of Issa Touma, a Syrian photographer, Thomas Vroege and Floor van de Muelen, 9 Days – From My Window in Aleppo was the winner in the short film category. |
| THE NIGHT’S WINNERS | THE NIGHT’S WINNERS |
| Best Film Certain Women, directed by Kelly Reichardt. A study of the lives of three very different women living in Montana. | Best Film Certain Women, directed by Kelly Reichardt. A study of the lives of three very different women living in Montana. |
| The Sutherland Award for First Feature Raw, directed by Julia Ducournau. A shocking but playful tale of horror about a young woman’s insatiable appetite for flesh. | The Sutherland Award for First Feature Raw, directed by Julia Ducournau. A shocking but playful tale of horror about a young woman’s insatiable appetite for flesh. |
| The Grierson Award for Best Documentary Starless Dreams, written, produced and directed by Mehrdad Oskouei. A complex portrait of juvenile delinquent women at the extreme margins of Iranian society. | The Grierson Award for Best Documentary Starless Dreams, written, produced and directed by Mehrdad Oskouei. A complex portrait of juvenile delinquent women at the extreme margins of Iranian society. |
| Best Short Film 9 Days: From My Window in Aleppo, written by Issa Touma, a Syrian photographer, and directed by Thomas Vroege and Floor van der Muelen. | Best Short Film 9 Days: From My Window in Aleppo, written by Issa Touma, a Syrian photographer, and directed by Thomas Vroege and Floor van der Muelen. |
| BFI Fellowship Steve McQueen, director of 12 Years a Slave, Hunger and Shame, for his achievement in film. | BFI Fellowship Steve McQueen, director of 12 Years a Slave, Hunger and Shame, for his achievement in film. |