Mani Ratnam to get 2010 Filmmaker Award at Venice

[andhrafun]

Hailing Mani Ratnam as "one of the great innovators in contemporary Indian cinema", the Venice International Film Festival will honour the director of "Raavan" with the 2010 Jaeger-LeCoultre Glory to the Filmmaker Award.

In recent years, the award given in partnership with Swiss watch manufacturer Jaeger-LeCoultre has honoured other major world filmmakers like Takeshi Kitano, Abbas Kiarostami, Agnes Varda, and Sylvester Stallone.

"Mani Ratnam used to make movies only in his native tongue, Tamil, but has been one of a handful of filmmakers to successfully handle the transition to the All-India market," says the Venice Film Festival Director Marco Mueller explaining the choice in a news release.

"One of the great innovators in contemporary Indian cinema, he helped introduce the auteur concept to contemporary Bollywood. His movies display precision and poise, and have always been removed from the bombast and bluster of mass-produced regional cinema.

"The lavish musical numbers in his films, some of the best-tailored in Mumbai and Madras in recent years, have influenced the style of many others as well as the design of commercials and music videos.


Andhrafun.com