Received the Douglas Sirk Award at FestHamburg
2003.09.25
"I would like to dedicate this honor to all author_directors (auteurs), with whom I had worked, as well as you, public. I am not anything - only a performer, an interpreter", said Isabelle, when receiving the festival's life achievementt award - named after the German-oriented Hollywood classical director Douglas Sirk (1897-1987).
Ulrich Wickert - the presenter, German famous journalist/writer, praised Isabelle as a part "of the European cultural property". He reminded the fact that 25 years before, Isabelle already received the award for the first time at Cannes. "And today she is as present in the international film world as at that time. Isabelle Huppert belongs to the completely rare kind of the international film actresses, for whom there is no purge time. She will not form one period only, but 'trouble' the audience from decades to decades."
At the senate-lunch of the Film Festival, Wicket confessed that he is a fan of the native Parisian. Huppert, seen in films like "STORY OF WOMEN", "Madame Bovary" and last year's crime comedy "8 WOMEN", embodies her roles excellently. "If Isabelle Huppert wears cardigan with a pearl necklet, one would believe she comes to the world like this", said Wickert.
Honored Trophée des Arts Gala in New York City
2003.09.23
Isabelle is this year's recipient of Trophée des Arts Gala, issued since 1992 by the French Institute Alliance Française in USA. Each year the F.I.A.F. hornors a distinguished French or American artist whose influence has spanned the continents as well as promient members of the French-American cultural community. This year's ceremony will be held on Wed, November 5, 6:30PM, at the Pierre Hotel. From October 21 to November 4, on every Tuesday night, four Isabelle's films will be screened at Florence Gould Hall (55 East 59th Street, 212-355-6160): "THE PIANO TEACHER", "SAINT-CYR", "LOU LOU", and the US Premiere of her latest film LA VIE PROMISE" with the presence of Isabelle on November 4, 7:00PM (see flyer).
Isabelle, described by presenter Edurne Ormazabal as a "woman who represents the very best virtues of European cinema", received the Donostia Award for her lifelong career from the hands of Claude Chabrol. The Ceremony was held on Saturday night.
After a brief overview of her career with clips from her films with many prestigious directors, Claude Chabrol himself came on stage to eulogize one of his muses. He stressed on how directors normally think it's they who help the actors but in Isabelle's case it's the other way around. "She seems to be really obedient and seems to be doing just what you say but finally ends up making the film her own. She is one of the greatest 'acteurs' in French cinema".
On receiving the award from Chabrol, Isabelle said that she had two special reasons for being so happy tonight. First of all she was touched to receive the award from Chabrol and by what he had said, and secondly it was especially nice to receive it in San Sebastián as she loved the Basque Country. She thanked the audience for having loved and understood all the women she's played. Although they were varied she's always tried to tell the truth about. She closed by dedicating the award to Chabrol and declaring that she loved cinema because it told the truth and broke down all frontiers. (from The Festival Magazine, September 21, 2003)
Donostia
Award Receiver at Press Conference
2003.09.20
Laura
Clifford (from
ReelingReviews.com):
Tonight the first recipient of the
Donostia Award for
Lifetime
Achievement will
be the great French actress Isabelle
Huppert, so we
attend her press conference. Dressed in a navy blue
blazer and faded jeans (which she also wears to the
ceremony that evening!), Huppert strides
into the room appearing taller than her 5'3" height.
When asked about her lack of success in American films, Huppert declares "Heaven's
Gate" a masterpiece which
closed a golden era of American filmmaking and says
she's just completed "I
Love Huckabees" for
director David Russell,
costarring Dustin
Hoffman and
Naomi Watts. The
inevitable question about the state of European cinema
again draws praise for the US, when
Huppert talks
about the 'movement' of such filmmakers as Russell, Wes
Anderson and Paul
Thomas Anderson who
work with studios but make personal films. She also
says some countries preserve their own cinema better
than others, without specifically noting France. Of
course, Claude Chabrol (who
will present her with the award that evening), with
whom she has made six films,
is brought up and Huppert says
they share a common vision. Asked about her favorite
role, she stalls before
admitting a preference for "Une
Affaire de Femme" and "La
Pianiste". Overall, Huppert is
a little difficult to get answers from and rather humorless.
Only as we
left the room did it occur to Laura to
ask her what the funniest or silliest thing was that
had happened
to her making or promoting a film in her 25 year career,
but as Robin noted,
she would probably have replied 'I
do not have fun.' Oddly, the festival does not
screen
Huppert's most
recent and second film with Michael
Haneke, "The
Time of the Wolf."
Last year at
Sebastian Film Festival
September 16, 2002
Donostia Award at San Sebastian Film Festival
2003.09.14
Isabelle will receive the Donostia Award at San Sebastian Film Festival, which will be held from September 18 to 27.
In a statement that festival organizers said, "Despite the fact that (Huppert) has played the part of, let's say, not very recommendable heroines, she has always given them an ambiguity somewhere between pain and humor which is doubtlessly one of her greatest virtues as an actress. Thirty years in the profession and numerous unforgettable characters have made her an indespensable actress in the world of cinema."
Isabelle will share the festival's Donostia Prize for lifetime achievement with US actors Robert Duvall and Sean Penn. She will receive her prize on next Saturday, September 20, 2003.
Last year, Isabelle attended San Sebastian Film Festival with Olivier Dahan's "LA VIE PROMISE", but received rather cold reception.
Isabelle will receive this year's Douglas Sirk Award at the Hamburg Film Festival, held from September 19-26, 2003. Announcing the prize, festival director Albert Wiederspiel called Huppert "an European artist who also reached with her films the status of a star outside her own country and rightly so. Since it is rather difficult to speak of 'the' European cinema, we should take pride in our European stars and look after them." The ceremony will be held on September 25. Isabelle will attend the festival to promote Michael Haneke's new film "LE TEMPS DU LOUP".
Previous luminaries who have received the Hamburg honor include Clint Eastwood, Jodie Foster, Peter Weir, Jim Jarmusch, Wong Kar-wai and Aki Kaurismaki.
It's been a while that we haven't heard anything new from Isabelle. While LA TEMPS DU LOUP will be released in France on October 8, 2003 (North America Premiere on September 7, 2003 at Toronto International Film Festival), Isabelle will star a new film by Christopher Honoré (17 Fois Cecile Cassard) in Canaries since October 13. The film is adapted from Georges Bataille's novel "MA MÈRE", produced by Paolo Branco for Gemini Films. Isabelle is cast to opposite Emma de Cauness and Louis Garrel.
After finishing her role in American comedy/romantic film "I LOVE HUCKABEE'S" this summer, Isabelle seems to seek production in America now. Next time, will be a film adapted from Susan Sontag's "IN AMERICA", also produced by Paolo Branco, through her own company Les Films du Camelia. The director, which will be an American, is still kept in secret.
After "Le temps du Loup", Isabelle hasn't been heard in any new filming until recently. "I Heart (love) Huckabee's" by David O. Russell (Three Kings, Flirting with Disaster) is currently shooting in Los Angeles. Isabelle, replacing Catherine Deneuve, plays a small role in this comedy, romance film. Nothing could expect from her first American film since 1994's Amateur. If you have seen Nathalie Baye in "Catch me if you can", you will know how much room could be given to a top-listed French actress in a Hollywood film.
Early of this month, Isabelle was presented at Homage
to Daniel Toscan du Plantier, held in Paris. The retrospective started with La Dentelliere by Claude Goretta (1976), the first of nine films cooperated between producer and actress.
Isabelle's own company Les Film Camelias purchased the right of Barbara Loden's Wanda
(1970). It is now presented by Ronnie Chammah, Isabelle Huppert and Paulo Branco, re-released on July 16, 2003 in Paris, France. Barbara Loden is one of the pioneer female directors in Hollywood. In the premiere night, Isabelle said, "Wanda is a masterpiece. If Barbara
Loden upsets us, it is that she is an angel who tells us her solitary ballad in the country of the men. It's a night that hunts her, a night that illuminates us."
Isabelle will star in the $11.5 million English-language picture "In America", adapted from the novel by Susan Sontag, unveiled Wednesday by Paris-based Gemini Films.
Sontag's novel "In America" (1999) was based on a real story. It depicted a woman's search for self-transformation. The protagonist is Maryna Zalewska, an actress, who travels in 1876 with her family and a group of Poles to California to found a "utopian" commune. When the commune fails, Maryna returns successfully on the stage. The work received the National Book Award in 2000, is scripted by Frederic Raphael ("Eyes Wide Shut") for the film.
The film is a Gemini production in association with Huppert's Les Films du Camelia.
The film is due to shoot next year in the United States. Gemini has world rights. No other cast is yet attached, but discussions are under way with a well-known American director, Gemini head Paolo Branco said.
Isabelle accepted the interview by Canal Plus' Michel Denisot, talking about her appearance in Cannes, her new film "Le Temps du Loup", and Daniel Toscan du Plantier. (See Cannes Special@http://www.cplus.fr)
Today is the film's Premiere day at Cannes. Isabelle, along with Michael Haneke and Partrice Chereau, as well as other cast attended Press Conference, and Interview/Photo Call at Cannes Official Site, and will attend the evening public screen at Grand Théâtre Lumière.
The day before, Isabelle was also presented at the tribute to Maurice Pialat - Toscan du Plantier, hosted by Serge Toubiana.
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Every word written and
complied here is simply from the souls of her honest fans, and their fantasies
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