We have the great pleasure to announce, that in 2009 the Special Award to the Director with Unique Visual Sensitivity goes to Terry Gilliam who will attend the Festival as our honorary guest.




Terry Gilliam

Originally known for his imaginatively crafted brand of cut-out animation sequences for Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969-74), Terry Gilliam (born November 22, 1940) has come to be looked upon as one of the greatest filmmakers of the past three decades, a maverick producing effortlessly clever and devilishly twisted films frequently brimming with visual extravaganza. These traits have made him a fairly ‘uncomfortable' artist for critics as well as studio power brokers, with notable exceptions like The Fisher King.

Amidst his artistic profligacy and amazing unpredictability, Gilliam has consequently kept a set, idiosyncratic course, always bearing in mind that untrammelled imagination should lie at the heart of every art form. The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, a nearly 10-year-old project put recently on track, has become an embodiment of his life-long directorial struggle to tilt at the windmills of fate and the demands of the cinematic production system.

After a period as assistant editor on Harvey Kurtzman's HELP! Magazine, Gilliam tried his hand as a cartoonist, magazine illustrator, advertising copywriter and art director. In 1969 he joined the Pythons, contributing to their success primarily as a writer, animator and occasionally actor. With Monty Python and the Holy Grail came his first opportunity to stand behind the camera together with Terry Jones, which was soon followed by his solo debut Jabberwocky.

Although frequently pigeonholed as an incorrigible dreamer and anarchic humorist, in his trippy adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson's 1971 novel, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, the director has revealed the dark aspects of his creative soul, sometimes warping them into harsh social commentary found in Brazil or Twelve Monkeys.

In 2009 the Orange British Academy Film Awards recognised his passion and visionary oeuvre, by presenting him with the Academy Fellowship, thereby adding to the previous BAFTA (animations for Monty Python's Flying Circus), Academy Award (screenwriting for Brazil) and Golden Globe accolades.

Selected filmography:

• The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, 2009, cin. Nicola Pecorini
  
• Tideland, 2005, cin. Nicola Pecorini
  
• The Brothers Grimm, 2005, cin. Newton Thomas Sigel
  
• Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, 1998, cin. Nicola Pecorini
  
• Twelve Monkeys, 1995, cin. Roger Pratt
  
• The Fisher King, 1991, cin. Roger Pratt
  
• The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, 1988, cin. Giuseppe Rotunno
  
• Spies Like Us, 1985, cin. Robert Paynter
  
• Brazil, 1985, cin. Roger Pratt
  
• Monty Python's The Meaning of Life, 1983, cin. Peter Hannan, Roger Pratt
  
• Time Bandits, 1981, cin. Peter Biziou
  
• Life of Brian, 1979, cin. Peter Biziou
  
• Jabberwocky, 1977, cin.Terry Bedford
  
• Monty Python and the Holy Grail, 1975, cin. Terry Bedford