The Coolidge Corner Theatre announces internationally acclaimed director Jonathan Demme as the recipient of the 2010 Coolidge Award, to be celebrated March 1-2. Demme will arrive in Brookline to accept the honor and to participate in related festivities including special tributes from industry colleagues and a panel discussion. Selected screenings from his filmography are being scheduled throughout February.
Jonathan Demme began his film career in the early 1970s working with producer Roger Corman. Throughout that decade he is credited as a co-writer
and producer for several of Corman’s productions and as director of three films (Caged Heat, Crazy Mama and Fighting Mad). In 1980 Demme directed Marvin and
Howard and received widespread critical acclaim. Throughout the ‘80s he went on to direct movies celebrating both critical and commercial success, including
Swing Shift, Something Wild and Married to the Mob. During that same period he also directed the groundbreaking Talking Heads concert film Stop Making Sense
and the Spaulding Grey performance film Swimming to Cambodia. In 1991 Demme won the Academy Award for Best Director (Silence of the Lambs), which also
swept the Oscars that year taking all the major categories – Best Picture, Best Screenplay, Best Actress and Best Actor. Two years later he released Philadelphia,
which won star Tom Hanks the Best Actor Oscar. His feature films also include the 2004 remake of The Manchurian Candidate and Rachel Getting Married (2008).
Throughout his prolific film career, Jonathan Demme has also established himself as a committed documentary filmmaker. Off of the creative success of
Stop Making Sense and Swimming to Cambodia, Demme went on to make Haiti: Dreams of Democracy, The Agronomist, Neil Young: Heart of Gold, and Jimmy Carter
Man From Plains. The most recent full-length collaboration, Neil Young Trunk Show, premiered at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival and will be
released later this year.
The annual Coolidge Award, recognizing a selected film artist whose work advances the spirit of original and challenging cinema, was launched in
2004. Previous honorees are animators the Quay Brothers in 2009 (Street of Crocodiles, Institute Benjamenta), film producer Jeremy Thomas in 2008 (Sexy Beast,
The Last Emperor, The Great Rock and Roll Swindle), film editor Thelma Schoonmaker in 2007 (Raging Bull, Goodfellas, The Departed), actress Meryl Streep
in 2006 (Sophie’s Choice, Silkwood, The Devil Wears Prada), Italian cinematographer Vittorio Storaro in 2005 (Apocalypse Now, The Conformist, Reds) and Chinese
director Zhang Yimou in 2004 (Hero, The House of Flying Daggers, Raise the Red Lantern).
Latest Slideshows
