Lumière Award Winners Joel and Ethan Coen Praise Cinema-Going : ‘The Joy of Sitting in a Movie Theater with a Crowd of People, There’s No Substitute for That’

Oct 16, 2026 10:52am PT Lumière Award Winners Joel and Ethan Coen Praise Cinema-Going : ‘The Joy of Sitting in a Movie Theater with a Crowd of People, There’s No Substitute for That’

Ahead of accepting their Lumière Award, the Lumière Festival’s highest honor, the Coen Brothers explained at a Friday masterclass their secret – ‘we have very big egos’ – and record how Joel Coen met his wife of 40-years, Frances McDormand

By Lise Pedersen

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Lise Pedersen

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See All Add us as a Google Preferred Source Thierry Frémaux, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen. Lumière Award masterclas, Oct. 16, 2026. Credit: Loic Benoit

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LYON, France — Joel and Ethan Coen may be among the most celebrated filmmakers of their generation, but the Oscar-winning brothers were in a self-deprecating mood at the Lumière Film Festival on Friday, sharing laughs, anecdotes and tributes to the collaborators who have helped bring their films to life.

“I always feel I am not worthy,” Ethan joked at the start of the masterclass, ahead of the brothers receiving the festival’s lifetime achievement Lumière Award later that evening.

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