Acclaimed Leicester-born director Stephen Frears has been honoured with a British Film Institute (BFI) fellowship.
Playwright David Hare presented him with the accolade at the London Film Festival Awards ceremony on Saturday night.
Mr Frears joked that the award - the highest honour the BFI can bestow - made him feel "geriatric".
He said being awarded the fellowship was "very, very nice", but added that his career was "not over yet".
The 73-year-old has worked on films including Dangerous Liaisons, High Fidelity, The Queen, with Oscar-winning Dame Helen Mirren, Philomena, starring Dame Judi Dench, and Tamara Drewe.
Born in Leicester in 1941, Mr Frears lived in Western Park up until the age of 12. He went to Dovelands Infant School before his family moved away.
His big break came in 1985 with the low-budget film My Beautiful Laundrette.
He is currently working on a biopic about disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong.
Mr Frears joins a list of distinguished BFI fellows who have been given the honour since it was inaugurated in 1983. They include Leicester-raised Richard Attenborough as well as luminaries such as Dirk Bogarde, Michael Caine, Judi Dench, Clint Eastwood, Alec Guinness, John Mills, Laurence Olivier, Vanessa Redgrave, Elizabeth Taylor, Martin Scorsese and Ridley Scott.
