LOCARNO, Switzerland, Aug. 17 (UPI) — Oscar-winning Russian director Nikita Mikhalov was awarded the Boccalino d’Oro Independent Critics’ Award at the Locarno International Film Festival in Switzerland for his lifetime contribution to cinema.
The 69-year-old auteur is one of Russia’s most lauded film artists, known to American audiences for his Oscar-winning foreign language film Burnt by The Sun (1995). While Mikhalov was unable to receive his award in person at the ceremony in Locarno Friday, The Hollywood Reporter reported he expressed his appreciation through a statement.
“The Locarno International Film Festival is one of the top auteur cinema festivals in the world and has a long and proud history. I am extremely happy it was this festival that honored me with a special prize for my contribution to cinema, especially since the award is coming from independent critics – who I respect much more than critics who are dependent, on anything or anyone,” he said.
The festival organizers said the independent critics present at the event “made a unanimous decision” awarding Mikhalov. Other Russian directors, such as Alexey German, Kira Muratova, Alexander Sokurov and Alexey Mizgirev, among others have been honored by the festival in the past, TASS reported.
Mikhalov has already won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, the Grand Prize of the Jury at Cannes, and serves as President of the Moscow International Film Festival.
In June, 2014, Mikhalov added his voice to an international appeal in hopes of freeing Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentstov, arrested by Russian security forces on terrorism charges.
“I express my solidarity with Ukrainian cultural workers; we are not politicians, we are artists, we must be independent of politicians,” Sentsov told an audience at Moscow’s Pushkin Film Theater last summer.
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