Alan Parker Awarded in France

British film director Alan Parker has been made a French officer of Arts and Letters in an award ceremony in Paris. Parker, who directed the controversial film “Midnight Express” in 1978 which won him two Oscars was given the decoration by French Culture Minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres on Wednesday. “Through your work and your campaigns you have shown us how the artist occupies an essential place in our contemporary society. “Through the dreams which you show us, through the links that you weave, you question the world through the mirror of your work,” the minister said at the ceremony. Other films by the 61-year-old director include such diverse works as the Oscar-winning musical “Fame”, a celebration of the rock group in “Pink Floyd the wall” (1982), the musical “Evita” (1996), “Angel Heart” (1986), and the anti-death penalty movie “The Life of David Gale” (2003). Source: www.expatica.com