/ 24 June 2011

Pieter Hugo wins Young Director Award at Cannes

South African photographers Pieter Hugo and Michael Cleary have won an award for their work on the music video for Spoek Mathambo’s Control.

The award was presented on Thursday in Cannes, as part of the Cannes Lions Festival that honours the work of creatives in the world of media, advertising and digital communication.

The Young Director awards have been running for 13 years, and recognise the work of young directors in the fields of music videos, short films and advertising.

The awards are divided into separate categories for European Union and non-EU countries.

Hugo and Cleary won the non-EU section of the music video category with their black-and-white video for Mathambo’s dark, electronic cover version of Joy Division’s She’s Lost Control.

The EU section award was shared between the United Kingdom’s Charles de Meyer for his video for Amon Tobin’s Esther’s, and Swedish director Gustav Johansson for his video for karl x johan’s Flames.

The festival closes on Saturday.