Alfonso Cuarón to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award at Locarno77

The 77th Locarno Film Festival will honour renowned Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón, a five-time Academy Award winner, with the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award. The festival will present this accolade, which celebrates extraordinary careers in the film industry, to Cuarón on Sunday, August 11, in Piazza Grande. On the same day, audiences will have the opportunity to engage with Alfonso Cuarón in a panel conversation at Forum @Spazio Cinema.

Alfonso Cuarón’s Cinematic Journey

Alfonso Cuarón‘s career is a testament to his versatility and mastery across different film genres and scales. From his early low-budget films in Mexico to major Hollywood blockbusters, Cuarón has continuously demonstrated his unique vision and storytelling prowess. His impressive filmography includes adaptations like Great Expectations (1998), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), and Children of Men (2006), as well as modern classics such as Y tu mamá también (2001), the Academy Award-winning Gravity (2013), and Roma (2018), and his directorial debut, Sólo con tu pareja.

Cuarón is celebrated for his dynamic long-takes and ability to elicit powerful performances from his actors. He has directed iconic performances from stars like Diego Luna, Gael García Bernal, Julianne Moore, George Clooney, Michael Caine, Clive Owen, and Sandra Bullock while also providing a platform for emerging talents, such as Yalitza Aparicio in Roma, whose performance earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.

His upcoming project, Disclaimer, is a series for Apple TV+ starring Cate Blanchett and Kevin Kline, set to launch on 11 October. In 2022, he produced Alice Rohrwacher’s Oscar-nominated short film Le pupille, making him the second person recognized in seven different Oscar categories.

Giona A. Nazzaro on Alfonso Cuarón

Giona A. Nazzaro, the Artistic Director of the Locarno Film Festival, praised Alfonso Cuarón, stating, “Alfonso Cuarón is a visionary author of agile and liberated imaginaries. Combining an experimental spirit with the sweep of great popular writers, he has captured the imaginations and hearts of millions of viewers. From coming-of-age novels to science fiction, from melodrama to grand sagas like Harry Potter, Alfonso Cuarón has reinvented himself as an artist with each new film, always in the service of the pleasure of cinema. He has thus created a truly multifaceted body of work.”

Tribute Program Highlights

The Lifetime Achievement Award to Alfonso Cuarón will be accompanied by a screening of Alain Tanner’s Jonas qui aura 25 ans en l’an 2000 (1976), a film personally selected by Cuarón. Before the screening, Cuarón will discuss the film’s significance to his work and film history. The discussion will be moderated by Frédéric Maire, director of Cinémathèque suisse, in collaboration with Les Films du Camélia.

The public conversation with Alfonso Cuarón at the Forum @Spazio Cinema, moderated by Manlio Gomarasca, will allow fans and cinephiles to gain insights into his illustrious career and creative process.

The Locarno Film Festival‘s Lifetime Achievement Award is a fitting tribute to Alfonso Cuarón‘s remarkable contributions to cinema. It celebrates his innovative spirit and the enduring impact of his work on audiences worldwide.