Tilda Swinton is set to receive the BFI Fellowship, the British Film Institute’s highest honor.
The Fellowship will be awarded at the BFI Chair’s annual dinner, hosted by Josh Berger, on March 2.
A best supporting actress Oscar and BAFTA winner thanks to 2007’s Michael Clayton, Swinton’s long and eclectic career on screen began through her collaboration with Derek Jarman, who provided her with her first film role in 1987 with Caravaggio. The two would work on six more features together, while Swinton would go on to receive widespread acclaim for playing both the male and female roles in Sally Potter’s adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s Orlando in 1992.
Since then, the list of auteur filmmakers Swinton has teamed with has included the likes of Luca Guadagnino (The Protagonists, I Am Love, A Bigger Splash, Suspiria), Wes Anderson (Moonrise Kingdom, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Isle of Dogs); Jim Jarmusch (Broken Flowers, The Limits of Control, Only Lovers Left Alive, The Dead Don’t Die); Joanna Hogg (Caprice, The Souvenir); the Coen brothers (Burn After Reading, Hail, Caesar!); Bong Joon Ho (Snowpiercer, Okja) and Lynne Ramsay (We Need to Talk About Kevin).
Swinton has also entered the Marvel Cinematic Universe, playing the Ancient One in Doctor Strange and Avengers: Endgame, while she was most recently seen in Armando Iannucci’s The Personal History of David Copperfield.
“Fellowship and BFI are two of my favorite words,” said Swinton. “And the beginning and end of the reason I live my life in the cinema in the first place. I am very happy and touched by this honor. And I share it entirely with my beloved filmmaking playmates, living and departed.”
Tilda will be joining the ranks of other BFI Fellows including Jarman, Vanessa Redgrave, Akira Kurosawa, David Lean, Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Martin Scorsese, Jeanne Moreau, Stephen Frears, Steve McQueen, Peter Morgan, John Hurt and Jeanne Moreau.
