Clint Eastwood to receive humanitarian honour
Story by Jack Foley
CLINT Eastwood is to receive an humanitarian award from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) for the first time in its history.
The 76-year-old actor and director will be presented with the award at a special ceremony in Washington next week.
According to MPAA chairman Dan Glickman, the accolade recognises the “decency and goodness of spirit in his moviemaking” that Eastwood had displayed “for decades”.
Eastwood’s most recent film Letters From Iwo Jima is in the running for four awards at the Oscars later this month, having already been named best foreign language film at the Golden Globes.
The film is a Japanese-language companion piece to the director’s other film of 2006, Flags of Our Fathers – both of which focus on the battle for the Japanese island of Iwo Jima in World War II.
Glickman added: “These films exemplify the true power of movies to tell human stories and inspire national conversation.”
The humanitarian award, named the Jack Valenti Humanitarian Award, is named after the MPAA’s long-time chief, who helped choose Eastwood as its inaugural recipient.
Read our review of Flags Of Our Fathers