Joel and Ethan Coen will be feted with the Lumière Award at the 18th edition of Thierry Frémaux’s classic film-focused Lumière Festival in Lyon in October.
First working together on Blood Simple and then Raising Arizona, the brothers are revered around the world for a string of cult works including the 1991 Cannes Palme d’Or-winning dark comedy thriller Barton Fink as well as crime comedies Fargo and The Big Lebowski.
“The adjective ‘cult’ seems to have been invented for them. While they have received a Palme d’Or, three Best Director Awards and a Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival, as well as four Oscars, it is above all the public’s enthusiasm, the audiences’ attachment to their films, and their impact on contemporary culture that have placed them at the very pinnacle of cinema superstars,” wrote the Institut Lumière, which oversees the festival in release announcing the honor.
“Extraordinary storytellers and masterful screenwriters, their sense of humor, their style, their command of narrative, the way they use music, as well as the ensemble of actors who surround them, including Frances McDormand, George Clooney, Scarlett Johansson, Jeff Bridges, Billy Bob Thornton, John Turturro, Steve Buscemi, Josh Brolin, and Tilda Swinton, everything about these two artists is extraordinary, and every one of their films is an event.”
The brothers follow in the wake of past Lumière honorees such as Michael Mann last year as well as Tim Burton, Wim Wenders, Clint Eastwood, Martin Scorsese, Jane Fonda, Francis Ford Coppola, Quentin Tarantino and Isabelle Huppert.
As per festival tradition, the brothers will participate a public conversation about their careers and then be presented with the Lumière Award in front of of a 3,000-strong crowd.
The 18th Lumière Film Festival will take place from October 10 to 18.
