Coen brothers receive Lumière Award at Lyon festival

Left · 1Joel and Ethan Coen received the Lumière Award at the Lumière Film Festival in Lyon, France, on the evening of Friday 16 October 2026, marking four decades of filmmaking. 1 Left · 1Variety described the award as the festival's lifetime achievement honour. It said the Coens are the second filmmaking duo to receive it, after Belgian brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne in 2020. 2 1 Left · 1At the ceremony, Ethan joked, "Thank you to the Lumières for inventing the movie camera, or we’d have been fucked." Joel said they made the films "because we love cinema and we love storytelling" and had "nothing but fun" doing so, with certain exceptions. 1

Left · 1Javier Bardem paid tribute to the brothers. He recalled trying to turn down his role in "No Country for Old Men" and called the film "one masterpiece and the gift of a lifetime". Frances McDormand, Wim Wenders, Robert Eggers and others attended. 1 Left · 1The evening included musical tributes: Bénabar sang Charles Aznavour's "Parce que tu crois", Joel Coen's favourite song, and Angélique Kidjo sang Jacques Brel's "Ne me quitte pas". Festival director Thierry Frémaux screened Ettore Scola's 1997 short "1943-1997". He told the Coens that, by festival tradition, they must shoot their own version of the Lumières' "Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory" on Saturday. 1 Left · 1Earlier on Friday, in a masterclass moderated by Frémaux, the brothers joked about their working method, saying they have "very big egos" and aren't threatened by others' ideas. They credited collaborators such as cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel and producer Eric Fellner, who said they had made nine films together. 2

Left · 1Joel said there is "no substitute" for "the joy of sitting in a movie theater with a crowd of people". He called the idea of films seen on ever-diminishing platforms, such as an iPhone, "very disheartening". He also said home video had helped launch their careers. 2 Left · 1The A.V. Club, citing an AFP interview carried by CTV, reported that the brothers plan to work together again. Joel said there was no "schism" and that the reunion "better be [in] the near future" because "we’re getting old". They have not settled on a project, and Ethan said it would not be a fantasy. 3 Left · 1Joel also ruled out a season of "Fargo" because television is "not the way our brains think about stories". Separately, Joel directed "The Tragedy of Macbeth" and has "Jack of Spades" pending. Ethan has made comedies with his wife, Tricia Cooke. 3

Left · 1The festival ends on Sunday 18 October. 1