Sam Mendes set to be honoured at the 2022 Camerimage Festival
Sam Mendes is set to receive the Special Krzysztof Kieslowski Award for Director at this year’s edition of the Camerimage Festival. The festival will also feature an opening night screening of Mendes’ latest romantic drama, Empire of Light.
The highly anticipated film has a stellar cast which includes Academy Award-winning star, Olivia Colman. Set in the 1980s, the film explores the significance of genuine human connection through a love story that takes place in an English coastal film theatre.
While commenting on the sociopolitical subtext of the film, Mendes told Deadline: “I was trying to write what I felt had happened in the last 40 years of my lifetime in the UK, which is: Let’s just make everyone friends as opposed to calling people on racism and saying ‘No, actually, you are in the wrong there, you cannot behave like that.'”
The filmmaker added: “For me, the most important thing in the film is that I think, as a director coming out of theatre, you know this because you’ve been watching my work since I was a baby, and you were a baby, animating other people’s words, you could say it’s a springboard for you as a director.”
Over the years, Mendes has developed a complicated legacy since he is often referred to as a great director who has no fans. Although he garnered global attention with his directorial debut American Beauty, Mendes’ subsequent efforts have failed to replicate the success or the cultural impact of his first film.
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