Merchant Ivory honored by BAFTA

Out filmmakers Ismail Merchant and James Ivory, and their collaborator Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, will be presented with the British Academy's Fellowship--the group's highest accolade in recognition of an outstanding contribution to world cinema--as part of this year's Orange British Academy Film Awards on February 24. The trio formed Merchant Ivory in 1962 and have created such internationally acclaimed feature films as A Room With a View, Remains of the Day, Howards End, The Europeans, Shakespeare Wallah, The Bostonians, The Golden Bowl, and the upcoming The Mystic Masseur. Previous Fellowship honorees include Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, Alfred Hitchcock, David Lean, Ingmar Bergman, Louis Malle, Elizabeth Taylor, Stanley Kubrick, Sean Connery, Steven Spielberg, and Albert Finney. As previously announced, the awards will be broadcast this year for the first time in the United States--E! Entertainment Television will run a two-hour international version on March 2, hosted by gay actor-author Stephen Fry.