This evening, Tilda Swinton received the BFI Fellowship at the annual BFI Chairman’s dinner, hosted by BFI Chair Josh Berger. The BFI Fellowship was presented to Tilda at the Rosewood Hotel, London, by Wes Anderson, who has directed her in many films including The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) and in the hotly anticipated The French Dispatch (2020). The BFI Fellowship honours and celebrates Tilda’s daringly eclectic and striking talents as a performer and filmmaker as well as recognising her great contribution to film culture, independent film exhibition and philanthropy.
Bong Joon Ho, Kylie Minogue, Wes Anderson, Hugh Grant, Thom Yorke, Andrea Arnold, Armando Iannucci, Lynne Ramsay, Tim Walker, Luca Guadagnino, Joanna Hogg, Jefferson Hack, Haider Ackerman, Simon Fisher Turner, Luc Roeg, Sally Potter, Sandy Powell and other luminaries were all in attendance to celebrate Tilda’s award.
Tilda Swinton said ‘The BFI is a fellowship to me. It is one that I was so proud to have joined years ago and to still be serving today. My freshest films are BFI films, my first films were BFI Films. I was a BFI baby and now a BFI grandmother forever.’
On presenting the BFI Fellowship to Tilda, Wes Anderson said ‘Tilda can perfectly embody the woman behind the bar, an especially well-read vampire, a Russian who speaks Italian, or a lawyer for a corrupt American agricultural conglomerate; I see her miraculously channel a non-existent being into being. Tilda has already crossed into the territory of being universally admired, legendary, iconic and a national treasure. Tilda loves the cinema, and she loves the world of cinema, and the community of cinema and British cinema, so I’m very happy to be the one to hand her this prize.’
BFI Chair Josh Berger said ‘I am delighted that Tilda has accepted the BFI Fellowship. Tilda is enjoying the broadest of careers, stretching from her earliest acclaimed work with Derek Jarman through to her dazzling involvement in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It is a career full of courageous artistic choices that has earned her the deep respect of her peers, our industry and the admiration and enjoyment of audiences all over the world. Tilda inhabits the characters she portrays in the most compelling way. Her work is powerful and far-ranging and as such occupies a unique place in our collective film history; it captivates young filmmakers and actors, inspiring them to make bolder, braver and more profound work.’
The BFI Fellowship is presented alongside a Tilda Swinton season at BFI Southbank throughout March, curated in collaboration with Tilda herself and featuring her work and her inspirations. The season includes a special Tilda in Conversation event on Tuesday 3 March and has welcomed her collaborators Academy Award-winning Bong Joon Ho, Wes Anderson and Sally Potter.
Sight & Sound magazine will feature Tilda Swinton on the cover of their April 2020 issue. On sale 5 March and via www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound
Tilda will be joining the distinguished ranks of other BFI Fellows including Derek Jarman, Vanessa Redgrave, Akira Kurosawa, David Lean, Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Martin Scorsese, Jeanne Moreau, Stephen Frears, Steve McQueen, Peter Morgan, John Hurt and Jeanne Moreau.
