Interview with American film Director James Francis Ivory

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• published: 18 Jul 2011
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James Francis Ivory (born June 7, 1928) is an American film director, best known for the results of his long collaboration with Merchant Ivory Productions, which included both Indian-born film producer Ismail Merchant, and screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. Their films won six Academy Awards. Ivory was born in Berkeley, California, the son of Hallie Millicent (née De Loney) and Edward Patrick Ivory, a sawmill operator. He is of Irish and French descent, and grew up in Klamath Falls, Oregon. He was educated at the University of Oregon, majoring in Architecture and Fine Arts and then at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, where he directed the short film Four in the Morning (1953). Then he wrote, photographed, and produced Venice: Theme and Variations a half-hour documentary submitted as a thesis film for his degree in cinema at USC. The film was named by The New York Times in 1957 as one of the ten best non-theatrical films of the year. He graduated from USC in 1957. In 1961, Ivory created the film production company, Merchant Ivory Productions, with Indian-born producer Ismail Merchant and Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, who served as the screenwriter for many of their productions. Until Merchant's death in 2005, the company produced a number of award winning films. Of this collaboration, Ismail Merchant once commented: "IT IS a strange marriage we have at Merchant Ivory ... I am an Indian Muslim, Ruth is a German Jew, and Jim is a Protestant American. Someone once described us as a three-headed god. Maybe they should have called us a three-headed monster!" Merchant was also Ivory's long-term life partner. Their professional and romantic partnership lasted from the early 1960s until Merchant's death in 2005. In 1985 A Room with a View, based on the E. M. Forster novel, was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, and won three, for Jhabvala's adaptation of Forster's novel as well as for Best Costume and Best Production Design. A Room With a View was also voted Best Film of the year by the Critic's Circle Film Section of Great Britain, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, the National Board of Review in the United States and in Italy, where the film won the Donatello Prize for Best Foreign Language Picture and Best Director. In 1987, Maurice received a Silver Lion Award for Best director at the Venice Film Festival as well as Best Film Score for Richard Robbins and Best Actor Awards for co-stars James Wilby and Hugh Grant. This was followed in 1990 by Mr. and Mrs. Bridge, which was adapted by Ruth Jhabvala from the novels by Evan S. Connell. This film received an Oscar nomination for best Actress (Joanne Woodward), as well as Best Actress and Best Screenplay from the New York Film Critics Circle. In 1992 Ivory directed another Forster-adapted film, Howards End. The film was nominated for nine Academy awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, and won three: Best Actress (Emma Thompson), Best Screenplay -- Adaptation (Ruth Prawer Jhabvala), and Best Art Direction/Set Decoration (Luciana Arrighi/Ian Whittaker). The film also won Best Picture at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Awards, as well as awards for Best Picture, Best Actress for Emma Thompson and Best Director for Ivory from the National Board of Review. The Directors Guild of America awarded the D.W. Griffith award, its highest honor, to Ivory for his work. At the 1992 Cannes Film Festival the film won the 45th Anniversary Prize. Howards End was immediately followed by The Remains of the Day, which in turn was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. Location: Theater VALLI, Pula, Istria, Croatia At the 58 Film Festival in Pula received a great American director James Ivory, which is dedicated to the festival retrospectives. Ivory will be tonight (Wednesday, July 13th) at 21.30 at the Pula Castle personally present his film 'The White Countess "with Ralph Fiennes and Natasha Richardson. On Saturday, 16 July will hold a press conference starting at 13:15 Festival Centre, and that evening they will be during the opening ceremony at the Arena awarded the Golden Arena for life contribution to film art. Finally, on Sunday, 17th July at 19 hours will talk with the audience after the screening of his film 'Bostonians' which concludes its retrospective in Pula. Eight films from the retrospective will perform in Zagreb in the Metropolis Art Cinema MSU of 17 July James Ivory's films won six Academy Awards and a number of festival awards, and he was three times nominated for an Oscar and won the Silver Lion for best director. James Ivory Ismail Merchant, the Indian 1961st founded the production company Merchant-Ivory, and as a writer joined them novelist Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. Courtesy of Darko and Mararlene.