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He studied at the University of Toronto, where he became interested in film and made two 16mm shorts, Transfer and From the Drain. His first films in 35mm were Stereo and Crimes of the Future, both shot in the late 1960s. Mr. Cronenberg’s first commercial feature was 1975’s Shivers (a.k.a. They Came From Within or The Parasite Murders), which became one of the fastest-recouping movies in the history of Canadian film. Within a decade, he was making more ambitious films, such as Videodrome and The Dead Zone, for major studios. The latter won three out of the five prizes at the Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival as well as seven Edgar Allan Poe Award nominations. His next films were The Fly, a remake of the 1958 horror classic, which won the Academy Award for Best Makeup; and Dead Ringers, starring Jeremy Irons, which earned Mr. Cronenberg the Best Director award from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.
Naked Lunch (adapted and reconceived from William S. Burroughs’s novel and works) brought him the National Society of Film Critics award for Best Director, as well as that group and the New York Film Critics Circle’s citations for Best Screenplay. The film also won eight Genie Awards [Canada’s equivalent of the Academy Award], including Best Picture and Best Director. Crash brought him a Special Jury Prize at the 1996 Cannes International Film Festival, in addition to multiple Genie Awards; eXistenZ won the Silver Bear Award at the 1999 Berlin International Film Festival; and A History of Violence received a host of accolades, including Best Director and Best Film on the Village Voice Film Critics Poll as well as two Academy Award nominations. |
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