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 Before a star-studded audience and next to a long-time
friend, actor Sidney Poitier, the 87-year-old Belafonte received
the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, an honorary Oscar from the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for his lifelong
fight for civil rights and humanitarian causes.
Honorary Oscars were also bestowed upon three prolific artists
and creators who deeply influenced Hollywood: Irish actress
Maureen O'Hara, who appeared on stage at 94, Japanese animator
Hayao Miyazaki, 73, and French screenwriter Jean-Claude Carriere,
83.
The Academy's Governors Awards gala has become the kick-off to
the film awards season, bringing some of the most powerful
people in Hollywood under the same roof, gathering stars from a
dozen films with potential to win Oscars in February.
"To be rewarded by my peers for my work, human rights, civil
rights, peace, let me put it this way: It powerfully mutes the
enemy's thunder," said Belafonte.
He called artists "the relevant voice of civilization" and hoped
they would help the world "see the better side of who and what
we are as a species".
The Harlem-born Belafonte started out his speech remembering how
Hollywood films like "Tarzan" and "Song of the South" fostered
the racial divide in America and gave him an "early stimulus to
the beginning of my rebellion".
"Today's cultural harvest yields a sweeter fruit," he noted,
pointing to films like the gay love story "Brokeback Mountain"
and Oscar best picture "12 Years a Slave."
"All of this is happening at the dawning of technological
creations that will give artists boundless regions of
possibilities to give us deeper insights into the human
existence," Belafonte added.
Belafonte was perhaps best known as a calypso singer, but as an
actor he starred in ground-breaking films like "Carmen Jones"
and pushed to make films movies from the black perspective.
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He also worked alongside Martin Luther King Jr. in the civil rights
movement, fought against AIDS in Africa, volunteered as a United
Nations goodwill ambassador for decades and now works on gang
violence in American cities.
"He has been a warrior on the good side of the battlefield of social
justice," said actress and fellow activist Susan Sarandon, who
presented him with the Oscar.
FIRST OSCAR FOR O'HARA
O'Hara, who still boasts her famous flaming red hair, received a
standing ovation after actors Clint Eastwood and Liam Neeson
presented her with her first Oscar.
She sang the final words of the Irish ballad "Danny Boy" and thanked
three men who helped make her career: actors Charles Laughton and
John Wayne and director John Ford, with whom she made the classic
1952 film "The Quiet Man" opposite Wayne.
Miyazaki was heralded by American director John Lasseter for making
11 feature films, like "My Neighbor Totoro," and drawing the
storyboards for every single one.
Miyazaki told the audience he felt lucky "because I have been able
to participate in the last era where we make films with paper,
pencil and film".
Carriere has 139 writing credits to his name, including those for
"Cyrano de Bergerac" and "The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie." He
thanked directors with whom he has worked, including the late Luis
Bunuel and Louis Malle.
"In a way, they are all here tonight," said Carriere.
(Editing by Keiron Henderson)
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