Alumni Film Producers Honored at Cannes

Alumni Robert Shaye ’64 and Michael Lynne ’64, co-chairmen and co-CEOs of New Line Cinema, were named “Chevaliers des Arts et des Lettres” by the French government, in recognition of their significant contributions to the arts.

New Line Cinema, founded by Shaye in 1967, is the world’s oldest independent film company. For the past 40 years it has enriched the film landscape with critically acclaimed pictures with niche audience appeal as well as top-grossing blockbusters. Recent releases include Oscar-nominated A History of Violence and Little Children, the popular comedy The Wedding Crashers and The Lord of the Rings trilogy, which earned 17 Oscars and is considered the most successful film franchise in history.

The prestigious Chevalier award was presented to Shaye and Lynne on behalf of the French Ministry of Culture at the Cannes Film Festival in May. During the festival, New Line aired a 10-minute preview reel of its new film The Golden Compass, slated to hit theatres December 7.

Past recipients of the Chevalier award, given for outstanding contributions to the arts and literature, include William Faulkner, Clint Eastwood, Ralph Ellison, Meryl Streep and ColumbiaUniversity alumni Paul Auster and Allen Ginsberg.