Oscar winner Marion Cotillard to be honored at France’s Lumieres Awards

PanARMENIAN.Net - Thierry Fremaux, the artistic director and general delegate of the Cannes Film Festival, and Oscar-winning actress Marion Cotillard will be honored at the Lumieres Awards, France’s equivalent to the Golden Globes, Variety said.

The academy of the Lumieres Awards, which is composed of Paris-based members of the foreign press, will pay tribute and hand out honorary awards to Cotillard and Fremaux during the 22nd edition of the ceremony Jan. 30.

Since winning an Oscar, a Golden Globe, a Cesar and a Bafta for her role as Edith Piaf in “La vie en rose,” Cotillard has worked with some of the world’s most talented and acclaimed directors, from Michael Mann (“Public Enemies”) to Woody Allen (“Midnight in Paris”), Christopher Nolan (“Inception,” “Dark Night Rises”), Steven Soderbergh (“Contagion”), James Gray (“The Immigrant”) and Robert Zemeckis (“Allied”). Cotillard also starred in the Dardenne brothers’s “Two Days, One Night” and Xavier Dolan’s “It’s Only the End of World.”

In France, Cotillard has worked with Jacques Audiard (“Rust and Bones”); Guillaume Canet, whose next film “Rock & Roll” will soon come out in France; and, most recently, with Arnaud Desplechin for his upcoming film “Ismael’s Ghosts.”

On top of receiving the honorary prize, Cotillard is also selected for a best actress Lumiere award for her performance in Nicole Garcia’s “From the Land of the Moon.”

Meanwhile, Fremaux, who became the artistic director of the Cannes Film Festival in 2000 and was promoted to general delegate and head of Cannes in 2007, has stamped the festival with his “eclectic tastes which range from pure auteur cinema to quality mainstream, to genre and animation, without forgetting documentaries,” the Lumieres academy said in its release.

The Lumieres prize will be given to Fremaux in association with Variety.

Fremaux is also dedicated to perpetuating the heritage of classic films in Cannes, where he launched the section Cannes Classics, and in his hometown, Lyon, where he heads up the Lumiere festival in Lyon.

Fremaux recently directed the documentary “Lumière!” which comes out in theaters Jan. 25, and wrote the book “Selection Officielle,” which was just published.