Swiss Film Award: Jean-Luc Godard to receive Honorary Award
Bern, 12.02.2015 - The 2015 Swiss Film Honorary Award will go to Jean-Luc Godard, one of cinema’s true visionaries and a virtuoso in the art of film editing, whose avant-garde work has inspired, and continues to inspire, generations of film makers the world over. Federal Councillor Alain Berset will present the legendary director with his “Quartz” trophy on 13 March during the official Swiss Film Award ceremony at the Bâtiment des Forces Motrices in Geneva.
The Federal Office of Culture will bestow the 2015 Swiss Film Honorary Award on Jean-Luc Godard, one of the founding fathers and leading lights of the French Nouvelle Vague. The award also comes with prize money of CHF 30,000.
Recognition of an outstanding contribution to cinema
Jean-Luc Godard burst on to the international stage in 1960 with his first full-length feature À bout de soufflé (“Breathless”). The film, which stars Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg, came to be considered a seminal masterpiece of the emerging Nouvelle Vague movement. With his unconventional ideas, subversion of traditional narrative structures and view of the world as a contemporary and critical observer of society, Godard frequently challenged his audience. His longstanding fascination with the relationship between images and words comes to the fore in his most recent film Adieu au langage (“Goodbye to Language”), which premiered at Cannes in 2014 and which went on to win the Jury Prize.Jean-Luc Godard has made over 40 films and video experiments. His work enjoys international acclaim and has influenced generations of film makers. He has also had a long and prolific career as a film critic, regularly analysing both his own work and the output of others in the French-language film magazine Cahiers du Cinéma. Jean-Luc Godard was born into a Franco-Swiss family and has been a Swiss national since 1953.
Nominees Week
The Cinémas du Grütli in Geneva and Filmpodium in Zurich will show all of the nominated films between 9 and 15 March 2015. These screenings are part of “Nominees Week”, a series of public events, which are organised by the Association "Quartz" Genève Zürich and held in the run-up to the Swiss Film Award ceremony. “Nominees Week” is also an opportunity for the general public to talk directly to film-makers about their work. Both cinemas will also screen films by Jean-Luc Godard, the winner of the 2015 Honorary Award. The full events programme is available at: http://www.swissfilmaward.ch/en/
Award ceremony
The 18th Swiss Film Award ceremony will take place on 13 March 2015 at the Bâtiment des Forces Motrices, Geneva. This gala event, which officially recognises the work of the Swiss film industry, is co-produced by the Federal Office of Culture and its official partners, SRG SSR and the Association "Quartz" Genève Zürich, and is organised in collaboration with SWISS FILMS, the Swiss Film Academy and the Solothurn Film Festival. Federal Councillor Alain Berset will attend the ceremony.
Accreditation – Swiss Film Award 2015
Invitations to apply for accreditation for the Swiss Film Award 2015 will be issued on 17 February.
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www.swissfilmaward.ch
Address for enquiries
Susanne Goldschmid, deputy head of communications, Federal Office of Culture
+41 (0)58 462 92 34, susanne.goldschmid@bak.admin.ch
Links
Publisher
Federal Office of Cultural Affairs
http://www.bak.admin.ch
