Steve McQueen, the modern director not the classic action star, will become the youngest director to win the BFI Fellowship next month…
The former visual artist is behind three award-winning feature films: Hunger (2008), Shame (2011) and, of course, the multi-Oscar nominated 12 Years a Slave (2013). The director will receive the British Film Institute’s highest accolade when he is presented with his award at the London Film Festival awards ceremony on 15th October. He will be the youngest male and the youngest director to have received the award, with the ceremony taking place six days after his 47th birthday.
McQueen, who also won the Turner Prize in 1999, has expressed his delight at being selected for the award, saying: “I first walked into the BFI library and cinema 28 years ago. To think that I will now be a fellow and honorary member, with such a distinguished list of people, is mind-blowing. I’m humbly honoured.”
McQueen became the first and only black director to win a Best Picture Oscar when 12 Years a Slave won the award in 2014.
Chair of the BFI, Josh Berger, said: “As winner of both the Turner Prize and an Academy Award, Steve is pre-eminent in the world of film and the moving image. He is one of the most influential and important British artists of the past 25 years and his work, both short and long-form, has consistently explored the endurance of humanity ‐ even when it is confronted by inhumane cruelty ‐ with a poetry and visual style that he has made his own.”
McQueen will join several famous faces to have received the award including Orson Welles, Clint Eastwood, Cate Blanchett, Al Pacino and Helena Bonham Carter. The director is currently working on a drama for the BBC, telling the story of a West Indian community in west London from the late 1960s until the present date. He has also made an advert for fashion label Burberry earlier this year.
congratulations are in order for Mr McQueen, but can i enquire as to how this qualifies for Impact related news? I used to buy the magazine for its coverage on Hong Kong & International martial arts and action cinema, but sometimes things seem to pop up on your site, that look like someone randomly rewriting press releases or other sites movie news in an attempt to drive hits from random searches…
Surely coverage of Van Damme, jackie Chan, Chow Yun-fatt etc is more Impact related, it makes me wonder if this is why the magazine went under, lack of understanding for what the readership wants
Impact tries to give a balanced look at the entertainment industry with an emphasis on the action side of things. A majority of our news-pieces and reviews lean in that direction.
But, like all sites, we DO rely on regular updates and the number of unique hits to our articles every day- so, yes, there will be some days there will be stories that have a less rigid criteria. Given that McQueen’s name has been linked with a few more ‘action’ projects in the past – none of which have admittedly transpired as yet – one of our newer writers felt the award was worth commenting upon.
However we promise that Impact’s commitment to quality coverage of Eastern action and the action industry as a whole won’t suffer. We encourage readers to spread the word on the articles they DO like the best and as much as possible – that way the increase in traffic allows us to prove to all interested parties which stories make the most impact (no pun intended).
We are a title with a long history and a small group of passionate writers produced on a limited budget but welcome all opinions and contributors.
Thanks,
John
(Editor)