Michael Mann will be honored with the Lumière Award at the 17th edition of the classic film-focused Lumière Festival in Lyon this fall.
The Institut Lumière, which oversees the festival, praised Mann’s 40-year career marked by enduring hits such as Heat, The Last of the Mohicans, The Insider, and Collateral as well as his direction of “screen legends” including Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Daniel Day-Lewis, Tom Cruise, James Caan, Natalie Portman and Gong Li.
“He is both rooted in a strong Hollywood tradition and embodies a personal and innovative cinema through his choice of subjects, his approach to directing, storytelling, and aesthetics. With true independence—and at times a certain solitude—he is one of the most important filmmakers in the history of cinema,” it continued in its release.
Mann follows in the wake of past Lumière honorees such as Clint Eastwood, Martin Scorsese, Jane Fonda, Francis Ford Coppola, Quentin Tarantino, Tim Burton as well as Isabelle Huppert, who received the award last year.
Mann visited Lyon in 2017 for a screening of Heat introduced by Guillermo del Toro.
Mann responded to the Lumière Festival’s latest invitation by saying: “The answer is : great, I’d love to do it. The previous Lumière with Guillermo was a brilliant night. Pure cinema. And a great time. It all sounds brilliant. I’m in.”
Lumière Institute and festival director Thierry Frémaux said honoring Mann with a Lumière Award on the rue du Premier-Film, the road which was once home to the factory of cinema pioneers Auguste and Louis Lumière, was both “a dream” and a “source of pride”.
“Straight out of Hollywood mythology, he is a major artist whose mark on cinema is everlasting,” said Frémaux. “A stylist and an auteur, Michael Mann has infused his films with a vision of the world and of history that is inseparable from a dazzling cinematic style. Welcoming him to Lyon this October will be a major event for all lovers of cinema.”
The institute pointed to Chicago-born Mann’s European connections and spirit which began with his time at the London Film School in the late 1960s.
On his return to the U.S., Mann found his first successes in television, as a writer, then as a director and producer with the Emmy and DGA winning, The Jericho Mile.
In 1981, Thief, his first feature film, in which he directed James Caan, was selected for the Cannes Film Festival. He followed this with fantasy film The Keep, an ambitious fantasy and then Manhunter, starring Billy Petersen with the first on-screen appearance of the character Hannibal Lecter, played by Brian Cox.
Mann achieved worldwide fame in the 1990s with The Last of the Mohicans, the historical epic starring Daniel Day-Lewis and Madeleine Stowe, and Heat, the first on-screen meeting of the De Niro and Pacino; and political thriller The Insider, starring Russell Crowe and Pacino and the recipient of seven Academy Award nominations.
Subsequent features included Ali, the Muhammad Ali biopic starring Will Smith, and Collateral in 2004, starring Cruise and Jamie Foxx is also considered a milestone in contemporary cinema.
Shot in 2006, Miami Vice, his adaptation of the TV series Miami Vice, which he originally executive produced, has also become a cult film—particularly in its Director’s Cut version—as has Public Enemies, where he directed Johnny Depp and Marion Cotillard.
His latest feature Ferrari starred Adam Driver as Formula 1 legend Enzo Ferrari alongside Penelope Cruz. At the same time, Michael Mann returned to television, directing the pilot for the acclaimed series Tokyo Vice.
As a novelist, Michael Mann and Meg Gardiner’s Heat 2 was a #1 New York Times best seller and Heat 2 is currently in preparation as his next feature film.
Mann will receive the Lumière Award on October 17. The 17th edition of the festival will run from October 11 to 19.
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