Mel Brooks Awarded With the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Career Achievement Award
The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA) has announced that legendary filmmaker Mel Brooks will receive the LAFCA Career Achievement Award.
Brooks began as a comic and writer on Sid Caesar’s variety show, “Your Show of Shows” and went on to create the comic character The 2000 Year Old Man with Carl Reiner. Brooks also wrote TV comedy series “Get Smart” with Buck Henry.
“Mel Brooks is a national treasure and a comedy filmmaking legend,” said LAFCA president Claudia Puig. “Most of our members could probably quote whole swathes of his screenplays.” She added, “He not only has made us laugh uproariously, he has broken comic barriers and paved the way for and influenced generations of filmmakers after him.”
Brooks’ filmography includes “The Producers,” “Twelve Chairs,” “Blazing Saddles,” “Young Frankenstein,” “Silent Movie” and “High Anxiety.” Brooks is also an EGOT winner, winning his Tony Award for “The Producers.”
In 2014, Brooks told Variety he wouldn’t change anything about his heady early years in New York even if he could.
“Life was good. Writing comedy for skilled, important comedians in the ’50s and ’60s was heaven,” Brooks said.
LAFCA’s other top awards will be decided by the membership on Dec. 12, and those winners will be honored along with Brooks early next year.
Up next for Brooks is “History of the World, Part II” with Hulu ordering a variety series followup to the classic comedy film. The film was made up of segments set during different periods of world history. Among those was the Stone Age, Ancient Rome, and the French Revolution. Like most of Brooks’ work, it also featured musical numbers, including one about the Spanish Inquisition and, of course, “Jews in Space.” Brooks is a writer and executive producer on the series along with Nick Kroll, Wanda Sykes, Ike Barinholtz, David Stassen and Kevin Salter.
David Massey to Present Short Film ‘Passage’ at Oscar Consideration Screenings
David Massey, the first African-American filmmaker ever Oscar-nominated for Best Live Action Short Film, will present his newest short film “Passage” at three special Oscar consideration screenings in New York, L.A. and the San Francisco area.
“Passage” is set in 1600 West Africa and tells the story of Gamba, a village leader, where every member of an African culture is busy performing their daily tasks. Suddenly, a new and violent challenge emerges — and Gamba must figure out how to face the threat of his family and village.
The screenings will be presented in: Queens on Nov. 19 at 5 p.m. at the Museum of the Moving Image; Hollywood at the Raleigh Studios’ Chaplin Theater on Nov. 23 at 7 p.m. and San Rafael at the George Lucas Theater on Dec. 9 at 7 p.m.
Additionally, Massey and Evers-Manly will also be presenting their 1992 Oscar-nominated short film, “Last Breeze of Summer.”