ROCHESTER, N.Y., June 27, 2013—George Eastman House it will honor Academy Award®-winner Roger Corman with the George Eastman Award, the museum’s highest honor in motion pictures, on Saturday, November 2. The award recognizes Corman’s distinguished contribution to the art of film. In accepting the honor, Corman joins the company of such film legends as Charles Chaplin, Cecil B. DeMille, Gary Cooper, Gregory Peck, Jimmy Stewart, Audrey Hepburn, Kim Novak, Martin Scorsese, Meryl Streep, and Richard Gere. The George Eastman Award was established in 1955 as the first retrospective film award to honor artistic work of enduring value.
“We are proud and honored to recognize Roger Corman’s outstanding contribution to the art of film,” said Paolo Cherchi Usai, senior curator of motion pictures, George Eastman House. “We are doing so as a long overdue tribute to a true master of cinema—a master in the literal sense of the term. As a producer and director, Corman has forever changed the landscape of American independent cinema, which is why he amply deserves the George Eastman Award.”
With Corman’s nearly six-decade tenure in the business, he has hundreds of movies to his credit as film producer, director, and actor. Corman was the first to understand and interpret the evolving taste of teenage moviegoers at a time of dramatic social change. With the body of films he directed, he demonstrated that low-budget filmmaking can be a catalyst of style and creativity. He discovered the talents of Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, James Cameron, Jonathan Demme, Peter Bogdanovich, and Joe Dante, producing their early films. Corman also offered Jack Nicholson, Peter Fonda, Robert De Niro, and Dennis Hopper their first chance on the big screen.
“Roger Corman’s passion and commitment to the art of film making has helped pave the way for so many of the great actors and directors of our time,” said Lori Donnelly, film programmer, George Eastman House. “The depth and breadth of his talents have impacted the motion picture industry for decades, and we’re thrilled to honor his career this fall.”
Corman will receive the George Eastman Award in a ceremony in the Dryden Theatre on November 2, 2013. Event details, including ticket information will be announced later this summer. Fall programming in the Dryden Theatre will feature works by Corman, including selections from his foreign-language distributions and films that he directed. For more information about the George Eastman Award, please visit eastmanhouse.org or call (585) 271-3361 ext. 218.
About George Eastman Award
Since opening its doors in 1949, George Eastman House has championed the history, conservation, creativity, and passion surrounding the media supported in the Museum’s mission. With the establishment in 1955 of the Eastman House’s first honor to professionals in the motion picture industry, the George Eastman Award for distinguished contribution to the art of film, the Museum began its history of recognizing that same commitment in individuals. The first two presentations of the award in 1955 and 1957, known as the Festival of Film Artists, recognized the legends of the silent film era (1915–1930). Since then the George Eastman Award has evolved to recognize a range of artistic talent in the film industry that includes actors, directors, and cinematographers.
About Roger Corman
With hundreds of movies to his credit, Corman is one of the most prolific producers the film medium has ever produced, and one of the most successful—in his nearly-six-decades in the business, only about a dozen of his films have failed to turn a profit. Corman has been dubbed "The King of the Cult Film" and "The Pope of Pop Cinema," and his filmography is packed with hundreds of remarkably entertaining films, dozens of genuine cult classics. Corman has displayed an unrivaled eye for talent over the years--it could almost be said that it would be easier to name the top directors, actors, writers, and creators in Hollywood who didn't get their start with Corman than those who did. Among those he mentored are Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Jack Nicholson, James Cameron, Robert De Niro, Peter Bogdanovich, Joe Dante and Sandra Bullock. His influence on modern American cinema is almost incalculable. In 2009, he was honored with an Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement.
About George Eastman House
George Eastman House is located on the estate of George Eastman, the father of popular photography and motion picture film. Eastman House comprises world-class collections of photographs, motion pictures, photographic and cinematic technology, and photographically illustrated books. Established as an independent non-profit institution in 1947, it is the world’s oldest photography museum and one of the earliest film archives. The archive houses 28,000 film titles and 4 million film-related publicity stills, posters, scores, scripts, and pre-cinema artifacts. Eastman House also holds the world’s largest collection of camera technology. The Eastman House’s L. Jeffrey Selznick School of Film Preservation is regarded as the premier venue of professional training in film preservation, restoration, and archiving. The Eastman House is also the archive in which many filmmakers have chosen to preserve their films, including Cecil B. DeMille, Martin Scorsese, Spike Lee, Ken Burns, and Kathryn Bigelow. Learn more at www.eastmanhouse.org.
