07/02/2017 - This year at Cannes, the German filmmaker will receive the prize handed out every year by the French Directors’ Association

German director Werner Herzog is to be given the Carrosse d’Or, handed out by the French Directors’ Association (SRF), at the opening ceremony of the 49^th Directors’ Fortnight, which will unspool from 18-28 May 2017 as part of the 70^th Cannes Film Festival.

Intended to reward a filmmaker for the pioneering quality of their films, their boldness and the rigour of their direction and production, the Carrosse d’Or (which was launched in 2002) has, in the past, been awarded to Jacques Rozier, Clint Eastwood, Nanni Moretti, Ousmane Sembene, David Cronenberg, Alain Cavalier, Jim Jarmusch, Naomi Kawase, Agnès Varda, Jafar Panahi, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Jane Campion, Alain Resnais, Jia Zhangke and Aki Kaurismäki. 

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Here is an excerpt from the letter sent by the SRF’s board of directors to Werner Herzog: “We wish to pay tribute to this tireless filmmaker who never ceases working, juggling with formats and production systems, and blurring the boundaries between fiction and documentary, cinema and television, and reason and madness. You have a unique ability to lead the biggest Hollywood stars, as well as illustrious newcomers, in your wake, to impose a tone and perspective that are very much your own, thumbing your nose at morals and right-mindedness, daring to laugh at everything with astonishing and salutary impudence and freedom, but also – and above all – a profound degree of humanity.”

(Translated from French)