Oppenheimer star Cillian Murphy on Wednesday presented director Christopher Nolan with the BFI Fellowship, the British Film Institute’s highest accolade at a London dinner event hosted by BFI chair Tim Richards.
The organization lauded Nolan for his exceptional achievements and enormous contribution to cinema as one of the world’s most innovative and influential film directors.
At the annual BFI Chair’s Dinner held at the Rosewood Hotel in central London, Nolan was honoured with the prestigious fellowship. Among the esteemed attendees was Cillian Murphy, who has collaborated with Nolan on various projects such as the Dark Knight trilogy, Inception, Dunkirk, and Oppenheimer. Other notable figures from the film industry like NBCUniversal Studio Group chair and chief content officer Donna Langley, Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thomas, Michael Caine, Josh Hartnett, Hans Zimmer, Hoyte van Hoytema, Barbara Broccoli, Tom Hiddleston, Michelle Dockery, Gurinder Chadha, Misan Harriman, Molly Manning Walker, and BFI CEO Ben Roberts. UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer also graced the event.
Presenting the BFI Fellowship to Nolan, Murphy said, “For the last 25 years Christopher Nolan has been making films that are unique, boundary-pushing, singular, provocative, ambitious and unforgettable. He is a one-in-a-million, a true legend, one of the greatest directors in the world. It is a privilege of mine to know him, and to have worked with him so closely over the last 20 years. I have the utmost respect for him as an artist and a human being.”
While receiving the honour, Nolan said, “I was asked if in all of those years fighting to shoot on film, did you ever feel alone doing that? I was able to say I did not because my producer Emma Thomas always saw things the same way I did in terms of the importance of the medium”.
“So many people have helped me, so many people have been there for me, in so many different ways. I’m very moved to receive this, very moved by the presentation. This means the world to me,” he added.
Previous recipients of the BFI Fellowship include Bette Davis, Akira Kurosawa, Elizabeth Taylor, Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger, Orson Welles, Thelma Schoonmaker, Martin Scorsese, Tilda Swinton, Barbara Broccoli, Michael G. Wilson, and Spike Lee.
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