Vincent Lindon to receive honorary Master's Degree in Art of Storytelling

Cinema - 10 February 2025

Università IULM has awarded the Honorary Master's Degree in the Arts of Storytelling: Literature, Cinema, and Television to French actor Vincent Lindon, a symbol of European cinema, for his ability to portray the contradictions of contemporary society with depth and authenticity.

Università IULM has awarded the Honorary Master’s Degree in the Arts of Storytelling – Literature, Cinema, Television to Vincent Lindon, Best Actor at the 2024 Venice Film Festival for the film Noi e loro (Jouer avec le feu), which will be released in theaters on February 27.

The French actor was welcomed by the University’s Rector, Professor Valentina Garavaglia, who emphasized how this recognition celebrates the value of an art that helps us understand our time. "Awarding him the Honorary Master’s Degree in the Arts of Storytelling means acknowledging the value of an art that helps us comprehend our era. Lindon takes on this challenging task of narrating the present with clarity, courage, sensitivity, and an extraordinary ability to convey, through his performances, the complexity of reality," stated the Rector.

The official statement for the award, read by Rector Garavaglia, retraced the key milestones of Lindon’s career, from his debut in the 1980s to his collaboration with director Stéphane Brizé, which led to the creation of films with significant social impact such as The Measure of a Man, At War, and Another World. "His cinema acts as a magnifying glass on the tensions that run through Europe today: social fractures, the ambiguities of power, and the new dynamics of human and professional relationships. Lindon does not simply play a role; he inhabits stories and becomes a vehicle for an in-depth exploration of the human condition," the Rector added.

During the Laudatio, Professor Luisella Farinotti, a lecturer in Film Aesthetics, highlighted how Lindon possesses "the extraordinary ability to embody the small, everyday gestures of ordinary men, the clumsy and awkward movements of our existence. No gesture is overburdened, nothing is grandiloquent or emphatic—everything in his acting style is natural and true."

Visibly moved, Lindon thanked the audience and the University with a heartfelt and passionate speech:

"Every gesture and every action we take is often, unknowingly, to please our parents—a father and a mother who brought us into this world. And every human being’s story, every struggle in life, is in some way an attempt to show our parents that they were right to bring us into the world."

The actor then shared with the audience a text that holds great significance for him: the speech Albert Camus delivered in 1957 upon receiving the Nobel Prize in Literature, emphasizing the importance of culture and emotions as guiding forces in both human and artistic journeys.

To honor Vincent Lindon, Università IULM also organized a film retrospective dedicated to him, allowing students and film enthusiasts to (re)discover some of his most significant roles in the days leading up to the ceremony. Moreover, IULM students were granted special access to the Milan premiere of Noi e loro, attended by the cast.

This recognition celebrates not only Vincent Lindon's talent but also his commitment to offering cinema and audiences a lucid and authentic perspective on the complexity of reality.