The Los Angeles Film Critics Association has chosen French screenwriter and director Claire Denis as the recipient of this year’s Career Achievement Award, the organization announced Wednesday. LAFCA’s first in-person awards ceremony in three years will take place on Saturday January 14, 2023.
“We are thrilled to honor Claire Denis, one of the finest living filmmakers and a master at portraying the identity crises faced by both the colonizer and the colonized,” said the president. of the LAFCA, Claudia Puig, in a press release. “A distinctive sociopolitical point of view and anti-patriarchal sensibility permeate his work, which is deeply evocative – often tender and intimate but never sentimental – and always uncompromising.”
Denis’ film ‘Stars at Noon’ – starring Margaret Qualley, Joe Alwyn and Robert Pattinson – won second place in the Grand Prix at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. In February, Denis received the Venice Silver Bear for Best Director for the film “Both Sides of the Blade,” which starred Juliette Binoche and “Titanium” star Vincent Lindon.
Denis made his film debut in 1988 with the Cameroonian set “Chocolat”, and directed such acclaimed films as “Beau Travail” (1999), “Trouble Every Day” (2000), “White Material” (2009) and science fiction film “High Life” (2018). His 1996 drama “Nénette et Boni” also won the Golden Leopard at the Locarno International Film Festival.
The winners of this year’s competitive prizes will be announced on December 11. This year, LAFCA will introduce gender-neutral acting categories, with two awards for Best Lead Performance and two awards for Best Supporting Performance. Other award categories include New Generation and the Douglas Edwards Experimental Film Award.
