French filmmaker feted at festival

Unreleased films

The French filmmaker said at the Goa festival on Thursday he was delighted to have received his first lifetime achievement award.

Paradoxically, it came from a country that hadn’t released any of his films.

Tavernier rose to international acclaim with “Sunday in the Country” (1984). Best known for his new-age French cinema like “The Princess of Montpensier” which stars Mélanie Thierry, “In the Electric Mist” with Tommy Lee Jones, “Holy Lola” with Jacques Gamblin, Isabelle Carré and the 1973 thriller “The Clockmaker”, the filmmaker joked that it felt rather strange to be on a stage, surrounded by an audience that had never even watched  his films.

Tavernier was twice nominated for the Oscars and won a BAFTA for “Life and Nothing But”.
Though a big fan of American films, Tavernier said he was saddened to see only Hollywood films on Indian television. as if no other world cinema existed. “What about Spanish films... or French..?”