Sam Mendes, the Oscar-winning British director, will be presented with a lifetime achievement Visionary Award at Stockholm Film Festival this year.
Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes will attend the Swedish festival on November 11th to present his latest film, Empire of Light. Mendes previously won the best director award for his debut feature, American Beauty (1999). He was also nominated for best film, best director, and best original screenplay for war drama 1917.
This drama, set in the 1980s, portrays Olivia Colman as the manager of a run-down theatre in a small English seaside town. She establishes an unexpected friendship with her new employee, Stephen (Michael Ward). Mendes reteams with cinematographer Roger Deakins, who previously worked with him on 1917 and Skyfall.
Mendes was already well-known as one of London’s top theatrical directors when he ventured into film. He has directed plays that have been performed at the National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Old Vic, and Broadway. He also founded and led the Donmar Warehouse in London for ten years. He has won three Tonys and five Oliviers for his work in the theatre.
The 57-years-old Mendes was Knighted in the New Year’s Honours List of 2020. His other accolades are the Shakespeare Prize in 2020 from the Alfred Toepfer Foundation in Hamburg, Germany, lifetime achievement award in 2005 from the Directors Guild of Great Britain. Moreover, The Daily Telegraph put him at #15 on their list of “100 most powerful persons in British culture” in 2008. Now, another crown has been added to his list of achievements in the form of the upcoming Visionary Award this November.
Stockholm has hosted the Visionary Awards since 2004. Previous winners include Filmmaker Roy Andersson from Sweden, French filmmaker Celine Sciamma, and Wes Anderson for their films Songs from the Second Floor, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, and The Grand Budapest Hotel, respectively. The 9th annual Stockholm Film Festival will run from November 20th to the 20th of the following year.
