Oscar winning director Oliver Stone will receive the Founder’s Directing Award at the 54th San Francisco International Film Festival scheduled to run April 21 – May 5, 2011. The Founder’s Directing Award is presented each year to a master of world cinema and is given in memory of Irving M. Levin, visionary founder of the San Francisco International Film Festival in 1957.

San Francisco, CA — The San Francisco Film Society announced today that Oliver Stone will be the recipient of the Founder’s Directing Award at the 54th San Francisco International Film Festival (April 21 – May 5). The FDA will be presented to Stone at Film Society Awards Night, Thursday, April 28 at Bimbo’s 365 Club.

The Film Society’s highly regarded Youth Education program will be the beneficiary of the glamorous fundraiser honoring Stone. The soon-to-be-announced recipient of the Peter J. Owens Award for excellence in acting and Frank Pierson, recipient of the Kanbar Award for excellence in screenwriting will also be honored at the star-studded event. Melanie and Lawrence Blum are chairs of this year’s Film Society Awards Night, and Carla Emil and Rich Silverstein are the honorary chairs.

“We are thrilled to honor Oliver Stone at this year’s Festival,” said Graham Leggat, the San Francisco Film Society’s executive director. “He is in the midst of a remarkable career built on the confidence that complex ideas can be molded into popular cinema.”

Stone will also be honored at An Evening with Oliver Stone at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas at 7:00 pm, Wednesday, April 27. An onstage interview and a selection of clips from his extensive directing career will be followed by a screening of one of his feature works.

The Founder’s Directing Award is presented each year to a master of world cinema and is given in memory of Irving M. Levin, visionary founder of the San Francisco International Film Festival in 1957. It is made possible by Fred M. Levin and Nancy Livingston. The award was first bestowed in 1986 on iconic filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, and for many years carried his name.

Oliver Stone has directed many era-defining features including Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010), W. (2008), World Trade Center (2006), Nixon (1995), Natural Born Killers (1994), JFK (1991), The Doors (1991), Born on the Fourth of July (1989), Wall Street (1987), Platoon (1986) and Salvador (1986).

He has also written or cowritten all of the above (except Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, W. and World Trade Center), as well as Midnight Express (1978), Scarface (1983) and Conan the Barbarian (1982), among others.

Recently he has added documentaries to his resume including South of the Border (2009), Looking for Fidel (2004), Comandante (2003), Persona Non Grata (2003) and the upcoming Showtime series Forgotten History of the United States.

Stone has produced or coproduced numerous films including The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996), The Joy Luck Club (1993) and Reversal of Fortune (1990).

He won Oscars for directing Born on the Fourth of July and Platoon, and for writing Midnight Express. He was nominated for directing JFK and for cowriting Nixon. He has also received three Golden Globes for directing (Platoon, Born on the Fourth of July, JFK) and one for writing (Midnight Express).

Stone was born September 15, 1946 in New York City. Prior to his film career, he worked as a schoolteacher in Vietnam, a Merchant Marine sailor, taxi driver, messenger, production assistant and sales representative. He served in the U.S. Army Infantry in Vietnam in 1967-68.  He was wounded twice and decorated with the Bronze Star for valor. After returning from Vietnam, Stone completed his undergraduate studies at New York University Film School in 1971.

The award has brought many of the world’s most visionary directors to the San Francisco International Film festival over the years. Previous recipients are Walter Salles, Brazil; Francis Ford Coppola, USA; Mike Leigh, England; Spike Lee, USA; Werner Herzog, Germany; Taylor Hackford, USA; Milos Forman, Czechoslovakia/USA; Robert Altman, USA; Warren Beatty, USA; Clint Eastwood, USA; Abbas Kiarostami, Iran; Arturo Ripstein, Mexico; Im Kwon-Taek, Korea; Francesco Rosi, Italy; Arthur Penn, USA; Stanley Donen, USA; Manoel de Oliveira, Portugal; Ousmane Sembène, Senegal; Satyajit Ray, India; Marcel Carné, France; Jirí Menzel, Czechoslovakia; Joseph L. Mankiewicz, USA; Robert Bresson, France; Michael Powell, England; and Akira Kurosawa, Japan.