George Lucas is set to receive the Honorary Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival at its closing ceremony on May 25, organizers said on Tuesday.
“The Festival de Cannes has always held a special place in my heart. I was surprised and elated when my first film, THX-1138, was selected to be shown in a new program for first-time directors called the Directors’ Fortnight. Since then, I have returned to the festival on many occasions in a variety of capacities as a writer, director and producer. I am truly honored by this special recognition which means a great deal to me,” Lucas said in a statement.
The Cannes tribute for the Star Wars and Indiana Jones filmmaker will be broadcast on French TV channel France 2 as the French festival draws to a close.
“In the space of 40 years, George Lucas built a Hollywood empire through the nine episodes of the [Star Wars] saga — four of which he directed himself,” the Cannes Film Festival said of Lucas, who sold his company Lucasfilm to the The Walt Disney Company in 2012.
“George Lucas touched on everything. His unflagging passion for technology made him one of the pioneers of the visual effects industry: He founded Industrial Light & Magic and helped develop many new visual technologies, including the computer-assisted camera. In sound, he contributed to the evolution of stereo through his company THX. He also founded the famous animation studio Pixar. Moreover, George Lucas is an outstanding producer: in addition to the three Star Wars trilogies, he is associated with the development of mythical films by other directors, from Akira Kurosawa’s Kagemusha to the Indiana Jones saga, which he created,” the festival added.
After the success of American Graffiti and Star Wars, Lucas expanded his special-effects department into Industrial Light & Magic, which became a key partner to moviemakers in need of state-of-the-art effects. And his Skywalker Sound provided a range of technical services.
“A visionary intergalactic odyssey that reinvented the codes of cinematic genres as part of the New Hollywood movement, Star Wars is nothing short of mythology, a study that has fascinated George Lucas since his university days, in the construction of characters and plots and the breadth of its cultural reach,” the Cannes festival continued in tribute to Lucas.
Over the years, the Hollywood director and producer had computer divisions (one of which was spun off into Pixar), book imprints and other ventures, as he made movies including the hit Indiana Jones series.
The 77th Cannes Film Festival runs May 14-25.
