Acclaimed director Michael Mann will be honored with the prestigious Lumière Award at the upcoming 17th edition of the Lumière Festival, which will be held in Lyon from October 11 to 19. The Institut Lumière, which oversees the festival, announced the honor in recognition of Mann’s four-decade career in both television and cinema, marked by his distinct visual style, compelling storytelling, and a catalog of modern classics.
The Institute praised Mann for films such as Heat, The Last of the Mohicans, The Insider, and Collateral, and highlighted his collaborations with legendary actors including Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Tom Cruise, Daniel Day-Lewis, Natalie Portman, and Gong Li. The festival described Mann as an artist who is “rooted in a strong Hollywood tradition” while also pioneering “personal and innovative cinema” through aesthetic and narrative boldness.
Mann joins a distinguished list of past Lumière Award recipients, including Clint Eastwood, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Jane Fonda, Quentin Tarantino, Tim Burton, and Isabelle Huppert, the 2024 honoree.
Festival director Thierry Frémaux celebrated the choice of Mann, calling him “a major artist” whose influence on cinema is “everlasting.” He added that Mann is “a stylist and an auteur” whose films embody a unique vision of history and the modern world, all delivered through a dazzling cinematic lens. The award ceremony will take place on October 17, at the historic Rue du Premier-Film, home of the Lumière brothers’ original film factory.
Mann expressed his enthusiasm for the honor, recalling his previous visit to Lyon in 2017 for a screening of Heat introduced by Guillermo del Toro. “The previous Lumière with Guillermo was a brilliant night. Pure cinema. And a great time. I’m in,” he said.
A Chicago native, Mann studied at the London Film School in the 1960s before returning to the U.S., where he gained early acclaim in television, notably with The Jericho Mile, which earned him both Emmy and DGA awards. His 1981 feature debut Thief, starring James Caan, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, followed by the cult fantasy film The Keep and Manhunter, the first film to depict Hannibal Lecter, portrayed by Brian Cox.
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The 1990s saw Mann’s global recognition soar with The Last of the Mohicans, and the legendary Heat, which brought together De Niro and Pacino on screen for the first time. In 1999, The Insider earned seven Academy Award nominations, reinforcing Mann’s critical prestige.
In later years, he directed Ali (starring Will Smith), the genre-defining Collateral (2004), and Miami Vice (2006), which has since become a cult favorite. He followed with Public Enemies, starring Johnny Depp and Marion Cotillard, and recently released Ferrari with Adam Driver and Penelope Cruz.
Mann also made a strong return to TV, directing the pilot of Tokyo Vice, and co-authored the best-selling novel Heat 2 with Meg Gardiner, which is currently in development as his next feature film.
