Mar 15, 2017
Festival
San Francisco, CA — SFFILM announced today that James Ivory will be presented with a special tribute at the 60th San Francisco International Film Festival (April 5-19), honoring the acclaimed filmmaker’s contributions to cinema. The tribute will acknowledge Ivory’s exceptional films and his magnificent flair for the sympathetic and emotionally taut period piece with which he became synonymous alongside his longtime partners at Merchant Ivory Productions. This tribute, which will be accompanied by a 30th anniversary screening of Maurice (1987), will be presented to Ivory on Friday, April 14, 6:00 pm at SFMOMA’s Phyllis Wattis Theater.
Born in Berkeley, James Ivory is a multiple Academy Award®-nominated filmmaker-a prolific director, writer, and producer. He started his career as a documentary filmmaker before beginning his nearly six-decade journey in narrative filmmaking with The Householder (1963), a film that also began his decades-long partnerships with producer Ismail Merchant and screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. Among his films are The Guru (1969); Savages (1972); Heat and Dust (1983); Surviving Picasso (1996); Maurice (1987), winner of the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival; and three films for which Ivory received Best Director Oscar® nominations, A Room with a View (1985), Howards End (1992), and The Remains of the Day (1993). Most recently, he wrote the screenplay for Luca Guadagnino’s upcoming adaptation of André Aciman’s novel Call Me by Your Name.
“James Ivory and Merchant Ivory Films have been synonymous with quality literary cinema for decades,” said Rachel Rosen, SFFILM’s Director of Programming. “We’re delighted to be able to honor his work and encourage audiences to discover or rediscover his films. I am very much looking forward to swooning once again to the stirring romanticism of Maurice, lovingly restored in 4K.”
About Maurice:
A diffident man in Edwardian England runs the risk of losing status and even his freedom if he follows his heart in James Ivory’s elegant, erotically charged adaptation of E.M. Forster’s novel. While a student at Cambridge, Maurice (James Wilby) falls passionately in love with Clive Durham (Hugh Grant) who, however, feels their affair should remain platonic. While at Durham’s country home, Maurice is seduced by Durham’s under gamekeeper Alec Scudder (Rupert Graves) and-despite all the obstacles to same-sex relationships that existed in England at that time-the two throw in their lot together, providing a rare happy ending for this landmark LGBTQ film. This 30th anniversary presentation is being screened in a new 4K digital restoration overseen by Ivory and cinematographer Pierre Lhomme.
Tickets to A Tribute to James Ivory: Maurice are $20 for SFFILM members, $25 for the general public. Box office is open to SFFILM members now online at sffilm.org and opens for the general public Friday, March 17.
James Ivory joins a stunning group of honorees being presented with public tributes at the 60th SFFILM Festival, which includes philanthropist Gordon Gund, storyteller Ethan Hawke, actor Shah Rukh Khan, and filmmaker John Ridley.
For general information visit sffilm.org/festival
To request interviews or screeners, contact your Festival Press Office contact.
For photos and press materials visit sffilm.org/press
60th San Francisco International Film Festival The longest-running film festival in the Americas, the San Francisco International Film Festival (SFFILM Festival) is an extraordinary showcase of cinematic discovery and innovation in one of the country’s most beautiful cities. The 60th edition runs April 5-19 at venues across the Bay Area and features nearly 200 films and live events, 14 juried awards with close to $40,000 in cash prizes, and upwards of 100 participating filmmaker guests.