Lumière Prize 2025: American director Michael Mann celebrated in Lyon
The Lumière Festival has crowned Michael Mann, master of urban thrillers and electric nights. Between standing ovation and inspired speeches, Lyon experienced an evening that was both classy and funny.
Friday evening in Lyon, the great mass of classic cinema Rhône-Alpes version was held: the 17th Lumière Prize was awarded to Michael Mann, in a packed Amphitheater 3000. American class. The evening, as is often the case at this festival, was chic, studious and a little rock’n’roll. The filmmaker of Heat received his trophy, the mayor of Lyon was whistled a little, and Jean-Michel Aulas (whom some already imagine as the next mayor) won the applause.
All this in the same evening. That’s Light.
Each year, the Festival transforms Lyon into the world capital of classic cinema. And as this October 17, the city also celebrated the 130th anniversary of the Cinématographe Lumière, Thierry Frémaux could not miss that. That’s where it all started. A video loop allowed viewers to discover three restored versions of Leaving the Lumière factory. And the boss started the evening with: “Cinema has a future, we are convinced of it. We are leaving for another 130 years”.
The tone was therefore set: heritage, emotions, and above all beautiful linen. In the audience we could see: Isabelle Huppert, John Woo, Emmanuelle Devos, Alice Diop, Jérémie Renier, Sandrine Kiberlain, Marina Foïs… a cast worthy of an opening credits at Cannes, but a Lyon cocoon version.
Michael Mann’s Masterclass at the Lumière Festival
But before talking about cinema, Lyon remembered that it is also a political city. The entrance of environmentalist mayor Grégory Doucet triggered a few boos, quickly followed by polite applause. The atmosphere really relaxed when Jean-Michel Aulas, ex-president of OL and beloved local figure, appeared a few minutes later: spontaneous standing ovation, smile of the winner. We weren’t in Gerland, but it still looked a bit like it. Lumière is always good for mixing passion for cinema and Lyon folklore.
But now it’s time for the real hero of the evening: Michael Mann, guest of honor and new winner of the Lumière Prize. “The idea of rewarding him had been around for a long time”, explained Frémaux. “He is a contemporary filmmaker, a great creator of forms. He hasn’t received much recognition in Hollywood, but he remains a major influence.”
It was Isabelle Huppert, 2024 laureate, who presented him with the distinction. “Your cinema lives in us”, she said. “He captures the silences, the city, the night, the faces like no one else.” And Irène Jacob, president of the Lumière Institute, speaks of a “cinema of lyricism and freedom”, that of solitary heroes obsessed with integrity.
The room approves: tonight, Mann was king.
In fact, in Hollywood, Mann is a special case. Unique even. For him, cinema is a sensory experience. Each shot seems calibrated to the millimeter, each neon reflection tells something. He is a pure stylist, a frame freak obsessed with speed, precision and modernity. His films – Heat has Collateral passing through Miami Vice Or Revelation – transform the city into a character, the night into a mental setting, the sound of weapons or the purr of an engine into a musical score. We often speak of a cold and technical cinema, but behind the steel lies a romantic: its men are alone, fragile, prisoners of their profession or their ideal, and it is often the women who crack their shell.
It is this mixture of mastery and dizziness that makes his films hypnotic. And which was celebrated in Lyon.
The American therefore went on stage, visibly very moved. “I now understand why so many filmmakers are gasping here”, he began. He then spoke about his career, his beginnings, and especially this famous projection of the Faust by Murnau, in 1963, which made him want to become a director. “I fight to stay on the border of what is and what could be. This is the best place to exist.”
Free translation: at 81, Michael Mann remains obsessed with staging, tension and rhythm. And he doesn’t plan to stop.
Between two speeches, as is the tradition here, the host had planned some music. Camélia Jordana, a regular here, took the microphone for two musical breaths: Because by Charles Aznavour, then We Shall Overcome sang a cappella, in tribute to Michael and Summer Mann.
For a few hours, Lyon was transformed into Hollywood-sur-Saone. Stars, speeches, tears. The Lumière Festival has succeeded again: making heritage a maousse show, with just the right amount of panache and popularity. Michael Mann leaves with his trophy and the promise of “cherish this evening forever”.
