Clint Eastwood lands inaugural French honour
Story by Jack Foley
CLINT Eastwood has become the first recipient of the Prix Lumiere at the inaugural Grand Lyon Film Festival.
The new festival is devoted exclusively to showing restorations, revivals and retrospectives and will take place annually in the city that gave birth to cinema thanks to the pioneering work of Auguste and Louis Lumiere.
Upon receiving his accolade, the veteran filmmaker paid tribute to the Lumiere’s, saying: “I owe them more than 50 years of employment.”
And he added that he considers France to be his second home.
Three minutes worth of clips from Eastwood’s forthcoming Nelson Mandela movie Invictus were also shown as part of the evening’s festivities, while Eastwood’s son, Kyle, performed live with his jazz quartet.
Eastwood is currently in France to begin shooting his new film, Hereafter, a supernatural thriller that reunites him with Invictus co-star Matt Damon.
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