Todd Haynes will receive a top honor at the upcoming Locarno Film Festival.
The I’m Not There director and screenwriter will be presented with the prestigious Pardo d’Onore Manor prize, a lifetime achievement award, on 7 August (17) at the international film gala held in the city of Locarno, Switzerland.
OrganiZers will screen Haynes‘ latest film, Wonderstruck, at the festival, as well as his debut movie Poison, which originally competed at the event back in 1991.
“His characters – often with extraordinary performances by the female leads – bring back the magic of great cinema, of art that achieves the sublimation of reality without lapsing into disenchantment,” festival director Carlo Chatrian said in a statement. “His latest, splendid film Wonderstruck is another fine example, a journey into a cabinet of curiosities where fear and desire merge in the accuracy of a twofold historical reconstruction.”
The Oscar-nominated filmmaker’s works are synonymous with the New Queer Cinema movement, and are often preoccupied with the exploration of gender and identity themes. Sci-fi drama Poison marked Haynes‘ first film, and he has since gone on to win acclaim for movies such as 2002’s Far from Heaven, which starred Julianne Moore, and 2015’s Carol, with Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara. He also helmed 2011 HBO miniseries Mildred Pierce, featuring Kate Winslet and Guy Pearce.
Haynes, 56, will be joined at the Locarno Film Festival by Russian filmmaker Alexander Sokurov, France’s Catherine Breillat, Pakistan’s Sabiha Sumar, Switzerland’s Villi Hermann and Italy’s Alina Marazzi.
