Lifetime Achievement Award for Stephen Frears

The 24th EUROPEAN FILM AWARDS: Berlin, 3 December 2011

Director Stephen Frears (DANGEROUS LIAISONS, THE HI-LO COUNTRY, THE QUEEN) will receive this year’s EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD for his outstanding and dedicated body of work.

“I don’t know what to say,” Frears said over the telephone. Having already received various awards like the Spanish Goya, the French César and the British BAFTA, he said, “well, they’re always nice – if you get them,” and added: “But I’m very grateful, it’s very nice to be complimented by Europe.”

The director remembered his long relationship with the European Film Academy: “I was there when it was founded, I came flying back from the Oscars to get there.” He stated, “of course, I’m never quite sure whether England is part of Europe. We’re divided about this and have complicated feelings,” adding: “But what matters is to keep European film going! And I’m totally committed to that. Nothing else matters. If the films are good, then people will go and see them.”

Stephen Frears will be an honorary guest at the 24th European Film Awards Ceremony on 3 December 2011 in Berlin.

Stephen Frears
Having begun his career in British television, Stephen Frears made his breakthrough in 1985 with MY BEAUTIFUL LAUNDRETTE. Earning him nominations for the Academy Awards and BAFTA, the film was based on a screenplay by Hanif Kureish with whom he collaborated again in 1987 for SAMMY AND ROSIE GET LAID. Stephen Frears then made the Joe Orton biopic PRICK UP YOUR EARS (1987) and DANGEROUS LIAISONS (1988) – which won three Academy Awards, two BAFTAs and a French César for the director. Among his other films are THE GRIFTERS (1990), MARY REILLY (1996), THE HI-LO COUNTRY (1998), HIGH FIDELITY (2000), DIRTY PRETTY THINGS (2003), MRS HENDERSON PRESENTS (2005), and TAMARA DREWE (2010). THE QUEEN (2006) was a major international success. Nominated for  numerous awards, it won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, and a European Film Award for  Helen Mirren, as well as  a Goya (Spanish Academy Award) for Best European Film.

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The European Film Awards 2011 are presented by the European Film Academy e.V. and EFA Productions gGmbH with the support of the Capital Cultural Fund, FFA German Federal Film Board, the German State Lottery Berlin, the German State Minister for Culture and the Media, the MEDIA Programme of the EU, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Hôtel Concorde Berlin, PanAm Lounge, ŠKODA and TNT Express.

PATRONS: CENTRE DU CINEMA OF THE FEDERATION WALLONIA BRUSSELS * CIUDAD DE LA LUZ * DANISH FILM INSTITUTE * EGEDA – FILMOTECH.COM * EURIMAGES * FILM FUND LUXEMBOURG * FLANDERS AUDIOVISUAL FUND (VAF) * ICA - INSTITUTO DO CINEMA E DO AUDIOVISUAL * MALTA FILM COMMISSION * MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND CULTURE OF CYPRUS (CULTURAL SERVICES) * NETHERLANDS FILM FUND * POLISH FILM INSTITUTE * SEVILLE EUROPEAN FILM FESTIVAL, A PROJECT OF ICAS, ORGANISED BY ANDALUCIA FILM COMMISSION AND SPONSORED BY EMASESA *AB SVENSK FILMINDUSTRI * SWEDISH FILM INSTITUTE * TELEWIZJA POLSKA S.A. (TVP) *