"Every new Mike Leigh feature is an invitation to a glimpse into lives so fully formed and vivid with a cast of actors who portray not characters, but breathing, living people. This year's Lifetime Achievement Award is presented to a filmmaker who is comfortable humanizing master artists, abortionists and people who others would shy their gaze from. Mike Leigh is a true cinematic humanist, an exceptional director of actors and a master of improvisational filmmaking."
