Husband and wife duo Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin will be presented with the Chauvel Award at this year’s Gold Coast Film Festival.
The honour – named after another pioneering Australian filmmaking couple, Charles and Elsa Chauvel – recognises the pair’s outstanding global contribution and influence in cinema.
Martin will accept the prize in person on behalf of herself and Luhrmann at the Gold Coast Film Festival’s Screen Industry Gala Awards, to be held at Warner. Bros Movie World April 20.
Luhrmann has made no secret of his affection for the Gold Coast, where he and Martin shot and post-produced their most recent project, Elvis, nominated for eight Academy Awards. He has even gone so far to call it “Goldy-wood”, and he and Martin now live between the Queensland city and New York.
“Having lived and worked here on the Gold Coast creating our film Elvis, there is no doubt that this is a town that loves movies and is uniquely suited to making them. As the industry here grows beyond just shooting movies into developing projects here and finishing them all the way through post-production, it’s an exciting place to be for filmmakers both emerging and established. With that in mind, I am deeply honoured to receive the Chauvel Award, alongside my wife Catherine Martin,” Luhrmann said in a statement.
Martin agreed it was meaningful to both her and Luhrmann to receive the Chauvel Award after making Elvis on the Gold Coast.
“The filmmaking community and the city has been incredibly welcoming and supportive and we hope we’ll continue to make our work here in the future,” she said.
Previous recipients of the Chauvel Award include Leah Purcell, Anthony Buckley, Sue Maslin, Sue Milliken, Jan Chapman, George Miller, Rolf de Heer, Gillian Armstrong, Sigrid Thornton, Bryan Brown, Deborah Mailman, Heath Ledger, Claudia Karvan and John Seale.
Gold Coast Film Festival runs April 19-30.