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Film

Mexican director Inarritu to receive Special Award Oscar

Jochen Kürten jt
November 10, 2017

Triumph after triumph — that's Inarritu's career in a nutshell. He was presented with a special award for his groundbreaking virtual reality experience movie "Carne y Arena."

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Alejandro G. Inarritu June 2017
Image: Ugo Dalla Porta

The Mexican director ("Birdman," "The Revenant") received the prize at a gala event in Los Angeles on Saturday.

Canadian actor Donald Sutherland, French director Agnes Varda, independent filmmaker Charles Burnett and cinematographer Owen Roizman were given Honorary Oscars for their lifetime achievements at the Governors Awards ceremony.

Read more: Honorary Oscar for Agnes Varda, the female director of the French 'Nouvelle Vague'

Read more: Honorary Oscar for Donald Sutherland's monumental career

The Special Award Oscar is exceptional because it is not awarded annually, like the others. A mere 18 Special Award Oscars have been granted in the 90-year-history of the Academy Awards, the last one given out in 1996 in recognition of John Lasseter's "Toy Story," the first fully computer-generated feature film. 

A seven-minute-long authentic experience

The Academy's committee agreed to honor Inarritu's latest project "Carne y Arena" ("Meat and Sand"), which premiered during this year's Cannes festival. The virtual reality project plunges "viewers into the harsh life of an immigrant"  thanks to VR glasses that allow participants to experience the seven-minute narrative first-hand.

The setting of "Carne y Arena"
The setting of "Carne y Arena"Image: Emmanuel Lubezki

The calls for help by desperate Mexicans trying to cross the border to the US and the barking of the dogs unleashed by border guards can be heard via headphones.

To make the whole thing even more authentic, visitors walk barefoot over a floor covered with sand and stones.

Read more: 'Babylon Berlin' director Tom Tykwer to head Berlinale Jury in 2018

'A deeply emotional venture'

The Academy said it recognizes its visionary and powerful experience in storytelling: "The Governors of the Academy are proud to present a special Oscar to Carne y Arena, in which Alejandro Inarritu and his cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki have opened for us new doors of cinematic perception," said Academy president John Bailey. 

"It is a deeply emotional and physically immersive venture into the world of migrants crossing the desert of the American southwest in early dawn light. More than even a creative breakthrough in the still emerging form of virtual reality, it viscerally connects us to the hot-button political and social realities of the US-Mexico border," he added.

Read more: Paddington 2: The beloved British bear returns to cinemas

Alejandro González Iñárritu on the set of "Carne y Arena"
Alejandro González Iñárritu on the set of "Carne y Arena"Image: Chachi Ramirez

The film can be currently experienced in Milan at Fondazione Prada, which co-created the project, and at Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Tlatelolco Museum in Mexico City.

As a director, producer and screenwriter, Inarritu has won several Oscar awards and two Golden Globes and a Directors Guild of America award. 

jt/suc/jk/stu (dpa/ntv)