MADRID – Francis Ford Coppola, director of such classics as The Godfather trilogy and Apocalypse Now, has won Spain’s Princess of Asturias arts prize for his outstanding contribution to the world of film.
The prize foundation on Wednesday described the 76-year-old Coppola as “an exceptional narrator” who holds a prominent position in the history of cinema.
“The figure of Francis Ford Coppola is essential in understanding the transformation and contradictions of the cinema art and industry, to whose growth he has contributed decisively,” the foundation said.
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Coppola’s “explorations into power and the horrors and absurdity of war have transcended his artistic work and become collective and universal icons of contemporary imagination and culture,” it.
Born in Detroit, Michigan, Coppola was brought up in New York. He has won many film awards, including six Oscars.
The 50,000-euro ($64,330) Spanish award is one of eight Asturias prizes handed out yearly by a foundation named for Crown Princess Leonor. Others categories include social sciences, sports and scientific research.
The awards, formerly called the Prince of Asturias prizes, were renamed last year after Leonor became crown princess when her father Felipe took the Spanish throne following the abdication of former King Juan Carlos. The awards are presented each fall in the northern city of Oviedo, capital of the Asturias region.
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