Mike Leigh has accepted his BAFTA Fellowship at the 68th EE British Academy Film Awards in London.
The Vera Drake and Mr Turner filmmaker was presented with the accolade for his outstanding contribution to cinema at the BAFTAs ceremony tonight (February 8).
Accepting the accolade, Leigh said: "This is very nice indeed and I've never appeared on this stage before... How lucky we all are to have been born in this golden age of cinema."
Leigh thanked BAFTA for showing "respect for an offbeat, alternative, original, idiosyncratic, popular kind of cinema" by honouring him.
Speaking about the nature of independent film today, Leigh credited the form with giving him 'great freedom'. He also called Best Film winner Boyhood a "definitive independent film".
Leigh closed by saying: "Thank you to everyone I have ever worked with."
What to Read Next
Boyhood and Eddie Redmayne were among the winners at tonight's BAFTA ceremony.
Gallery: 2015 BAFTAs red carpet
