Thandiwe Newton was the guest of honor at the Deauville American Film Festival 2022 to receive the prestigious Deauville Talent Award. The Anglo-Zimbabwean actress notably succeeded Michael Shannon, who had received this distinction last year.
Thandiwe Newton gets his first film role in the feature film Flirting by John Duigan passes in 1991. The actress who lived during her first four years in Zimbabwe then turns with great directors like Neil Jordan, James Ivory or Vondie Curtis-Hall.
The general public spots her with shandurai by Bernardo Bertolucci and Beloved by Jonathan Demme. The actress explodes the box office by taking the headliner of Mission: Impossible 2alongside Tom Cruise.
While Collision by Paul Haggis won the Oscar for best film in 2006, Thandiwe Newton won the Best Actress BAFTAin a supporting role. She then chained successful films such as In search of happiness by Gabriele Muccino (2006), W, the unlikely president by Oliver Stone (2008) or 2012 by Roland Emmerich. In 2018, she returned to auteur cinema under the camera of Xavier Dolan for My life with John F. Donovan without neglecting popular cinema by playing in Solo: A Star Wars Story by Ron Howard. Thandiwe Newton is also illustrated on television by taking one of the main roles in the series Westworld since 2016.
Thandiwe Newton is also a committed producer. On the initiative of the V‑Day Foundation, it actively fights against violence against women. She notably produces the documentary President following the first democratic presidential elections in Zimbabwe.
A fabulous speech for the presentation of his Deauville Talent Award
It was while running through the aisles of the main hall of the CID in Deauville that Thandiwe Newton came to receive his Deauville Talent Award from the hands of Julie Gayet. The honored actress hops on stage before falling into the arms of the French actress who described her just before in her introductory speech as “a free woman”.
Thandiwe Newton delivers a moving speech comparing in particular each human to rough diamonds : “ These diamonds are us. And this way we tap into sharp, powerful tools is what defines us.“. The one who has resumed her original name since 2021 moving from Thandie to Thandiwe is no longer hiding. She admits to changing daily in an altruistic approach: “ I try to be that light and by doing that I will change not because of you, but for you“.
It ends with an African ubuntu proverb: “JI am because you are, she smiles, her voice full of emotion. This garden of humanity in which we all live, mere dust trying to rise “. It was truly the grace that had settled at the Deauville American Film Festival.
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The 2022 Deauville American Film Festival takes place from September 2 to 11
