Amitabh Bachchan to be presented award by Martin Scorcese and Christopher Nolan

Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan will be honoured with an award by the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) for his dedication and contribution to the preservation of the world's film heritage.

The 78-year-old actor will be the first Indian cinema personality to be conferred h the FIAF award.

Hollywood directors Martin Scorcese and Christopher Nolan, who are recipients of the same honour, will present the award to Bachchan during a virtual event scheduled for March 19, according to a statement issued by FIAF.

The FIAF is a worldwide organization, comprising film archives and museums across the world.

"This year FIAF celebrates the twentieth anniversary of its annual Award. To mark this momentous occasion, there could be no better recipient than one of the world's greatest movie stars and one who has understood, embraced, and publicized the cause of film preservation for years," the statement quoted FiAF President Frederic Maire as saying.

"By presenting our prestigious FIAF Award to Amitabh Bachchan, we want to show the world how rich and diverse, but also how fragile, this unique film heritage is, and we want to publicly thank Bachchan for his role as a high-profile advocate for the rescue of this heritage, in India and beyond," he added.

Bachchan's name was nominated by the FIAF affiliate Film Heritage Foundation.

Founded by filmmaker and archivist Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, Film Heritage Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to the preservation, restoration, documentation, exhibition, and study of India's film heritage.

Bachchan said he is honoured to receive the award for a cause he is "deeply committed".

"It was when I became the Ambassador of Film Heritage Foundation in 2015, that I realised the extent of the neglect and colossal loss of our precious film heritage and how we continue to lose more of our legacy every day.

"Recognising the urgency of the situation, I have been working closely with Film Heritage Foundation since its inception to do everything in our power to save our films and to build a movement for film preservation in our part of the world," said actor.

Bachchan stressed that it is important that the idea of film archiving is strengthening and promoted in India.

"I do hope that we are able to garner further support for this most essential cause from my colleagues in the film industry and the government, to enable us to realise our dream for building a centre that will preserve and showcase our magnificent film heritage," he added.

Christopher Nolan, who has been a vocal advocate of celluloid films, said it is imperative that representatives of the film industry around the world come together to ensure the preservation of film heritage.

Dungarpur said India's record in film preservation has been "dismal" as the country lost almost 70 per cent of its films.

Previous recipients of the FIAF Award include Manoel de Oliveira, Ingmar Bergman, Geraldine Chaplin, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Peter Bogdanovich, Nelson Pereira dos Santos, Rithy Panh, Liv Ullmann, Kyoko Kagawa, Agnes Varda, Jan Svankmajer, Yervant Gianikian and Angela Ricci Lucchi, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Jean-Luc Godard.