It is our pleasure to announce that British director and scriptwriter Sir Alan Parker will be granted our Lifetime Achievement Award to the Director with Unique Visual Sensitivity. The presentation of the Award will be accompanied by the publication of the book on his life and work, the retrospective review of his films and an exhibition of the stills from his movies and photos from the set taken by different photographers.

Sir Alan Parker, photo by G. Piekarski

Alan Parker was born into a working class family on 14th February 1944 in Islington, North London. He began his film career as a director of TV commercials, first working for advertising agencies and then he started his own company with producer Alan Marshall. As he found the shooting of commercials rather limiting, he went into directing short films and then a TV film for the BBC called The Evacuees written by Jack Rosenthal which won Parker his first BAFTA award and the US Emmy.

His first theatrical feature Bugsy Malone, photographed by Michael Seresin and Peter Biziou, starring young Jodie Foster, was a fusion of two genres - the musical and the gangster film, with a cast entirely of children aged about 12. It’s a cinematic pastiche with echoes and references to Astaire, Raft, Kelly, Cagney, Brando and Welles. This daring and creative film went on to some success, winning a BAFTA Award for best screenplay and earning Golden Palm nomination at Cannes as well as several Golden Globes nominations.

Parker’s next film, Midnight Express (cinematography by Michael Seresin, written by Oliver Stone) tells the story of a man who is caught smuggling drugs out of Turkey and sentenced to 30 years in a Turkish prison. The shocking drama was a breakthrough in Parker’s career and went on to win six Golden Globes and many Oscar nominations, winning best screenplay and best music. The raw energy and voice of the film, its uncompromising visceral power, remains very fresh and the film is still very modern today, belying its thirty years.

Midnight Express (1978)

Afterwards, Alan Parker directed Fame, (also photographed by Michael Seresin) one of the most famous musicals of the 80s. The film follows the story of young students at the NY School for the Performing Arts on their way to fame. The film presenting the great performances of several talented dancers spawned many copy-cat films and inspired the creation of similar schools around the world.

One of the most personal films of Alan Parker, although not his original screenplay, was a domestic drama Shoot the Moon, starring Diane Keaton and Albert Finney, cinematography by Michael Seresin. It is a realistic view of a marital crisis; a film filled with raw emotional power, highly praised by many critics as a wrenching, beautiful and enriching experience.

Bob Geldof, Pink Floyd The Wall (1982)

Pink Floyd The Wall is based on the 1979 double album by Pink Floyd. It is a story of a fictional near-suicidal rock star Pink (Bob Geldof) told with almost no dialogues, employing unforgettable music from Pink Floyd, animation drawn by Gerald Scarfe and beautiful cinematography by Peter Biziou. Due to its experimental form of cinematic language, as well as the enduring success of the album, the film won 2 BAFTA Awards and become a cult hit of the genre.

In 1984 Alan Parker made his next movie Birdy with cinematographer Michael Seresin. The film won him the Grand Prix du Jury at the Cannes Festival. Based on William Wharton’s novel, the film tells a post-Vietnam story of two friends. One (Nicolas Cage) returned from war physically injured, the other (Matthew Modine) is psychologically ill. It is a wonderful piece about friendship, insanity and amazing eccentricities accompanied by Peter Gabriel’s music.

During his artistic career Alan Parker has been working in almost every genre, from pastiche of gangster movies, domestic dramas, musicals to a classic noir detective thriller - Angel Heart or a political drama - Mississippi Burning. The former with cinematography by Michael Seresin, starring the amazing Mickey Rourke, apart from being an absorbing mystery is also a supernatural horror with a Faustian theme. Mississippi Burning photographed by Peter Biziou, starring Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe, is a film based on a true story - the disappearances of three young civil rights workers who were part of a voter registration drive in Mississippi, a milestone case on the way toward justice for black voters in the US. There was a remarkable political controversy surrounding this gritty detective drama with civil rights and racial themes. The film made a great impact on the public debate about the civil rights struggle.

Mississippi Burning (1988)

After shooting Come See Paradise (cin M. Seresin) - a love story set against the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, and The Commitments (cin Gale Tattersall) - the award winning story about rock band from North Dublin that decides to play soul music; and The Road to Wellville (cin Peter Biziou) - a comedy about turn of the century attitudes to health, sex and the bowels, Alan Parker embarked on another huge project, which was bringing Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s musical Evita into a film. The story based on the life of Eva Peron became a hit musical and a brilliant portrait of the rise and demise of the imperious, beloved first lady of Argentina in mid-century. Outstanding performances by Madonna and Antonio Banderas, beautiful cinematography by Darius Khondji and brilliant music composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice contributed to the great success of the film.

Angela’s Ashes (1999)

On his next two movies Angela’s Ashes and The Life of David GaleAlan Parker again worked with cinematographer Michael Seresin. Angela’s Ashes starring Emily Watson and Robert Carlyle is a touching story based on the best selling memoir of Frank McCourt set in pre-war Limerick, where his family struggled against poverty.

In his latest movie, The Life of David GaleParker explored another important political issue. On one hand, the film is a suspenseful thriller, but on the other it is a polemical film, critical of the retention of the death penalty in certain US states.

For his tireless commitment to the UK film industry Alan Parker was given a knighthood in 2001. In 1985 he was a founding member of the Directors' Guild of Great Britain. By the British Academy he was honoured with the prestigious Michael Balcon Award for outstanding contribution to British cinema. In 1998 Parker accepted the Chairmanship of the British Film Institute, and in 1999 he was handed the first chairmanship of the UK Film Council, giving him the opportunity to steer the country's film policy. Sir Alan Parker has also lectured at film schools around the world.