Michael Barker and Tom Bernard have been the driving force behind the success of many French films in the United States. They were presented with the insignia of the French Legion of Honor on September 22 in New York by French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius.
Just hours after the announcement that Saint Laurent was selected to represent France at the upcoming Oscars in the Foreign Language Film category, the co-founders and co-presidents of Sony Pictures Classics (who will be distributing Saint Laurent in the USA) were inducted into the French Legion of Honor at a ceremony held at the French Consulate in New York.
Saint Laurent is the latest in a long list of over 90 French films distributed in the USA by a range of entities (United Artists, Orion Classics, Sony Pictures Classics) controlled by these two men over the past thirty years. Their "trophy cabinet" includes such classics as The Last Metro, Diva, Pauline at the Beach, Jean de Florette, Au Revoir les Enfants (Goodbye, Children), Too Beautiful for You, Indochina, Hidden, Belleville Rendez-vous, The Class, The White Ribbon, A Prophet and The Past.
The French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius praised the duo for their "unique place in the realm of French cinema, distributing the largest number of French films in America and Europe." He added, "Without your dedication and passion, French cinema would not have reached the American audiences that it has."
For this occasion, UniFrance Films produced a short film tribute that features many of the great names of French and international cinema, including Marion Cotillard, Woody Allen, Michael Haneke, Isabelle Huppert, Gérard Depardieu, and Régis Wargnier.
