George Lucas is set to receive the Honorary Palme d'Or at the 77th Cannes Film Festival on May 25, Deadline reported.
The festival stated, “The Festival de Cannes is delighted to pay tribute to one of the greatest figures of contemporary cinema, a man with an extraordinary career, who brings together great entertainment and innovation, mythology and modernity and cinephilia and technology.”
George Lucas and the Cannes Film Festival
Lucas said that the festival holds a special place for him since it was where he had one of his first festival attendance.
“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 show in a new program for first time directors called the Directors' Fortnight,” he elaborated.
“Since then, I have returned to the festival on many occasion 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,” the filmmaker continued.
The festival charted Lucas' career starting with 1971's THX 1138, in collaboration with Francis Ford Coppola. The Godfather director executive produced the film. It was adapted from one of Lucas' experimental short films that he made when he was a student at the University of Southern California.
The Festival de Cannes' release stated, “From his very first feature, George Lucas stage the themes that are dear to him: science fiction to denounce a society of surveillance, using love to fight fate and conformity, and reversing moral values to challenge the role of good and evil.”
The film festival also noted Lucas frequent collaboration with Harrison Ford from American Graffiti to their reunion with one of the director's (and the actor's) iconic works, Star Wars.
The festival compared Lucas to Tolkien in how his films contain a universe with its own unique “geography, populations, languages, moral values.” These similarities helped Star Wars become a worldwide phenomenon to this day.
Palme des Palmes (Honorary Palme d'Or) 101
The Cannes Film Festival was founded in 1946 as an invitation-only festival and usually held in May. The first time the festival jury awarded a Palme des Palmes (the honorary award) in 1997, the 50th anniversary. It was awarded to Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman.
Starting 2002, Cannes started to give the award to non-competitive directors and/or actors who've had notable careers but have never received a Palme d'Or before. Last year, Michael Douglas and Harrison Ford were the recipients. Including Bergman and Lucas, there have been 20 awardees of the Honorary Palme d'Or.
Lucas has currently been in the news due to Disney's fight for control when he threw his support behind the studio's current CEO, Bob Iger. The filmmaker was also named Forbes' richest celebrity.
The rest of the festival's Official Collection will be revealed on April 11.
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