January 28, 1995
Park City, Utah - DGA President Gene Reynolds today announced that James Ivory has been designated to receive the Guild's D. W. Griffith Award for a lifetime of outstanding achievement as a filmmaker. The Griffith Award is the highest accolade that the DGA bestows on any of its members. It will be presented to Mr. Ivory at the 47th Annual DGA Awards banquet on March 11, 1995 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
By singling out Ivory, the Guild has chosen to honor one of the very few current directors to capture the public imagination with a body of work based largely on serious literary sources.
"I deeply admire the respect with which James Ivory treats his often complex source materials," commented Reynolds. "He takes very seriously his responsibility to remain faithful to the details of the text. He finds ingenious ways to translate those nuances into the medium of film. The exercise of this creative discipline is what makes his characters seem so utterly real, and his textures feel so rich and lush. James Ivory is certainly to be counted among our greatest modern directors." Reynolds made the announcement of Ivory's selection at the second annual reception honoring young filmmakers at the Sundance Film Festival.
Ivory's directorial career began with the half hour documentary, VENICE: THEME AND VARIATIONS, a thesis film he made while studying cinema at the University of Southern California. This was followed by THE SWORD AND THE FLUTE, and then THE DELPHI WAY, both of which deal with Indian themes. In 1961, he and Ismail Merchant formed the now fabled Merchant Ivory Productions. Ivory has made seventeen films for the company including SHAKESPEARE WALLAH, THE EUROPEANS, THE BOSTONIANS, HEAT AND DUST, A ROOM WITH A VIEW, MAURICE, SLAVES OF NEW YORK, MR. AND MRS. BRIDGE, HOWARDS END, and THE REMAINS OF THE DAY. The films A ROOM WITH A VIEW, MR. AND MRS. BRIDGE, HOWARDS END, and THE REMAINS OF THE DAY have together garnered a total of 26 Oscar nominations and have won six. Ivory's current project, JEFFERSON IN PARIS, will be released in March of this year.