For Immediate Release

The Motion Picture Sound Editors will present their Inaugural "Filmmaker's Award" to director/producer George Lucas for his outstanding contributions to the art of sound. The award will be presented at the 52nd Annual "Golden Reel" Awards to be held Saturday, Feb. 26, 2005, at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles.

The creator of Star Wars and Indiana Jones is being recognized by the MPSE for his consistently innovative and groundbreaking use of sound technology in his films, and for the enormous contributions he has made to advancing the state of sound in the moviegoing experience.

Lucas studied filmmaking at the University of Southern California, where he directed award-winning short films, including the acclaimed Electronic Labyrinth THX 1138 4EB. The film was noted for its creative use of sound effects, music and off-camera dialogue to help create a futuristic world. After graduating from USC, Lucas teamed with Walter Murch to create the sound design for a feature version of THX 1138, produced by Francis Ford Coppola. They also teamed to create the influential musical montages that permeated Lucas's wildly popular second film, American Graffiti.

Faced with the daunting challenge of creating a wholly unique universe of "organic sound effects" for 1977's Star Wars, Lucas hired then-student Ben Burtt to begin recording sound effects for the film long before it went into production. Star Wars pushed the envelope for film sound in many ways. In addition to giving creative opportunities to the sound editors, Lucas insisted on  releasing the film using the newly introduced Dolby stereo-optical system, as well as creating a 6-channel stereo mix for a 70 mm release. The use of sound in Star Wars marked a new era of sound creativity and technology, changing the art of film sound forever.

In 1983, frustrated with the quality of sound reproduction in most theaters, Lucas hired Tomlinson Holman to head a new division of Lucasfilm, appropriately named THX (both in homage to Lucas' first film and as an acronym for the "Tomlinson Holman Experiment"). THX was charged with creating a new set of both audio and visual standards for motion picture theatrical presentation. Competition from THX theaters has compelled exhibitors to include high-quality sound systems in all new theaters.

In 1987, Lucas founded Skywalker Sound, which provides comprehensive audio post-production services for the feature film, television, and game industries. Since opening, Skywalker Sound has garnered 17 Academy Awards for Best Sound and Best Sound Editing. Seven of these were won by Gary Rydstrom, who will receive the MPSE Career Achievement Award on the same night as the Filmmaker Award.

With his return to feature-film directing in 1999, with Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace, Lucas again expanded the film sound experience with the debut of Dolby Digital Surround EX, the 6.1-channel theater surround sound format co-developed with THX Ltd.

Lucas has also furthered the art of sound in computer entertainment in many ways, including by releasing numerous titles for the Xbox® video game system from Microsoft in the Dolby Surround 5.1 format including Star Wars Battlefront, Secret Weapons Over Normandy® and the upcoming Mercenaries.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized Lucas for his contributions to the film industry in 1992, bestowing on him the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award and has been nominated four times for the Oscar as best writer and best director. He has also been nominated for two Golden Globes, two Emmys, two DGA awards and three WGA awards. 

Among the other films that Lucas has helped bring to the screen as a producer include Willow, Tucker: The Man and his Dream, Mishima and Kagemusha. 

"The MPSE is very excited to present Mr. Lucas our first Filmmaker's Award. It is appropriate that the man who gave us Star Wars and THX sound will be the first person to receive the award. Many of our members are where they are because of what he has done for us both artistically and technically," stated MPSE president David  Bondelevitch.

"Sound is 50 percent of the moviegoing experience, and I've always believed audiences are moved and excited by what they hear in my movies at least as much as by what they see," Lucas said. "I'm honored by the MPSE's decision to recognize my work with such a tremendous award."