Spielberg honoured with Liberty medal for artistic, humanitarian work
By ANISaturday, October 10, 2009
LONDON - Steven Spielberg has been awarded the Liberty medal, an honour given to those personalities whose actions stand for the founding principles of the United States.
The director received the medal, which was first established in 1988, from the hands of former US President Bill Clinton in a ceremony that took place at the National Constitution Center.
The filmmaker was marked for “inspiring millions to better understand the abiding call of liberty”.
“We honour a man today who has always been able to make a simple story and make it scary, make a simple story and make it interesting, and make a simple story and remind us of the greatness in us all,” the BBC News quoted Clinton as saying.
Spielberg had followed his Oscar winning film Schindler’s List in 1994 by establishing ‘The Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation’ to produce video and oral histories of Holocaust survivors.
It has now assorted nearly 52,000 video testimonies in 32 languages, representing 56 countries.
The National Constitution Center said Spielberg has decided to donate the Liberty Medal’s 100,000-dollar-cash prize to the foundation.
U2 singer Bono and Nelson Mandela have been honored with the medal in the past. (ANI)
