Francis Ford Coppola 2015 Princess of Asturias Award for the Arts

At its meeting in Oviedo, the Jury for the 2015 Princess of Asturias Award for the Arts, composed of Bárbara Allende Gil de Biedma, José Luis Cienfuegos Marcello, Carlos Fitz-James Stuart Martínez de Irujo, Duke of Huéscar, Josep María Flotats i Picas, Guillermo García-Alcalde Fernández, Carmen Giménez Martín, Catalina Luca de Tena y García-Conde, Hans Meinke Paege, Rossen Milanov, Elena Ochoa Foster, Benedetta Tagliabue, Patricia Urquiola Hidalgo, Carlos Urroz Arancibia, Miguel Zugaza Miranda, chaired by José Lladó Fernández-Urrutia and with José Antonio Caicoya Cores acting as secretary, has agreed to grant the 2015 Princess of Asturias Award for the Arts to Francis Ford Coppola.

An outstanding narrator, he occupies a prominent place in film history. His career has been a continuous struggle to maintain total independence as a creator and entrepreneur in all the facets he has cultivated as a director, producer and screenwriter. The figure of Francis Ford Coppola is essential for understanding the transformation and contradictions of the industry and art of filmmaking, to whose development he has contributed decisively. Revitalizing both theme and form, his explorations of power and the horrors and absurdity of war have extended beyond his work as an artist, becoming universal icons of contemporary collective imagery and culture.

Oviedo, 6th May 2015