Perpetual spirit, the story of Rolex

Perpetual Spirit

Shaping future generations of film-makers

Rolex strongly believes that it is essential for excellence to be passed on, from one generation to the next.

Joan Jonas and Thao Nguyen Phan - Video

“Art is a spiritual practice,” says Joan Jonas, pioneer of performance and video art. For her Vietnamese protégée Thao Nguyen Phan, the experience of working with Jonas and observing her constant experimentation has taught her to be more open to what she can use to tell the stories that underlie her work.

Joan Jonas & Thao Nguyen Phan - Rolex Mentor and Protégé

Thao Nguyen Phan exhumes the poetry of Vietnam’s forgotten history with paintings and video works. She is inspired by her mentor, New York artist Joan Jonas, to see past the challenges of being an artist in her country.

Rolex.org - Rolex Mentor and Protégé

The Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative contributes to global culture by helping ensure that the world’s artistic heritage is passed on to the next generation.

To a future filmmaker

Filmmakers Martin Scorsese, James Cameron, Alejandro G. Iñárritu and Kathryn Bigelow have each made an enduring impact on cinema. They inspire the next generation of filmmakers to pursue their own ideas with the uncompromising passion that characterizes their own work.

James Cameron, the art of storytelling

James Cameron represents the pinnacle of filmmaking, with a boldness of vision and focus on technical innovation evident throughout his many movies. <i>Titanic</i>, which won 11 Oscars®, is tied for the most awards ever, while Avatar holds the record as the highest-grossing film in history.

Four iconic filmmakers pay tribute to their mentors - Video

Martin Scorsese, Kathryn Bigelow, Alejandro G. Iñárritu and James Cameron are legendary directors who remember the challenges that confront young filmmakers.

Celebrating masters of cinema

The history of cinema has been defined by the work of those who combine exquisite artistry with technical mastery. Rolex is proud to support Oscar-winning directors Martin Scorsese, James Cameron, Kathryn Bigelow and Alejandro G. Iñárritu, as they continue to push the boundaries of the art of filmmaking.

The Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative - Video

In 2002, Rolex established the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative to encourage the transmission of artistic knowledge.

Theatre to change the world - Rolex Mentor Protégé

Peter Sellars’ courageous determination to make theatre and opera relevant to today has earned him the reputation of enfant terrible of the contemporary stage. His uncanny ability to awaken Western audiences from their complacency, combined with his humility and generosity of spirit, made him the ideal mentor for a young dramatist from a country whose citizens are all too aware of the vicissitudes of fortune.

Artists in wonderland - Rolex Mentor Protégé

Year after year, Anish Kapoor, one of the world’s most famous living artists, astonishes the international arts community with his gigantic, enigmatic creations that fill the biggest exhibition spaces in the world’s best-known galleries. Nicholas Hlobo, a young artist from Johannesburg whose output is closely watched by collectors longing to buy, weaves together rubber, leather and fabric to produce intimate objets and performances that evoke an enticing but provocative beauty.

Outside the comfort zone - Rolex Mentor Protégé

During the mentoring year William Kentridge wanted to show Mateo López how his work could expand and flower. In encounters in the United States and the Netherlands, and, most of all, for several weeks in Kentridge’s Johannesburg studio, the mentor encouraged his protégé to find radically new ways to create art.

One wish - Rolex Mentor Protégé

Looking forward to a year of privileged access to Hockney through the offices of the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative, Matthias Weischer – a 32-year-old painter from Germany who specializes in deceptively realistic interiors – had no clear-cut expectations.

The master and the iconoclast - Rolex Mentor Protégé

The late Patrice Chéreau was interested in watching Michał Borczuch forge his own path, letting their numerous encounters of the mentoring year develop naturally into a conversation that thrived on their differences.

Beginning Again - Rolex Mentor Protégé

Masanori Handa, a young visual artist from Japan, explores human experience via his own sensations, imagination and memory – a process that he calls “surfing the world” – creating a series of original works that defy categorization and dazzle, rather than scandalize, the viewer. In the Rolex Arts Initiative, he found an ideal mentor in revered German artist Rebecca Horn, a pioneer in the art of turning experience inside out.

The art of creating new realities - Rolex Mentor Protégé

Sammy Baloji’s mentoring year consisted of a series of short but intense encounters with Olafur Eliasson, mainly in Berlin, where Eliasson has his studio.

The ideal situation - Rolex Mentor Protégé

In the challenging world of conceptual art, where execution of the work is regarded as secondary to the idea or concept behind it, traditions are meaningless and the very nature of art – including the term “conceptual art” itself – is constantly called into question.

Philip Glass & Pauchi Sasaki

Japanese-Peruvian composer Pauchi Sasaki finds a kindred soul in Philip Glass who opens up a lifetime of experience as an avant-garde composer whose music wells from a deep humanity.

One of a kind - Rolex Mentor Protégé

<i>The Wooster Group</i>, based in New York, has made its name with radical interpretations of drama classics, from Shakespeare to Arthur Miller. Through intense and rigorous re-imagining and recreations of texts via close collaboration between its members, The Group is reinventing theatre.

A stranger at home - Rolex Mentor Protégé

The discovery of a world of music totally new to him intrigued the well-known Senegalese musician, Youssou N’Dour, when he chose his protégé Aurelio Martínez, a Garifuna from Honduras.

Partnership - Rolex Mentor Protégé

For both Jessye Norman and her Rolex protégée Susan Platts, singing is an exploration of the words: what they meant to the composer setting them to music, what the fusion of literature and music has manifested and whether the opera stage is the ideal place to sing them.

The selection - Rolex Mentor Protégé

One of today’s most respected violinists, Pinchas Zukerman, has a special love for the viola. In choosing as his protégé the highly gifted string player David Carpenter, Zukerman has found someone who can benefit, as he has, from the rich interchange between the two instruments.

New Horizons - Rolex Mentor Protégé

Embarking on the second cycle of the Rolex Mentor Protégé Arts Initiative, Sir Peter Hall had a logical, coherent plan. His agenda for the year included several of his specialties: among them Shakespeare (<i>As You Like It</i>, for the first time in his career), Harold Pinter (a revival of <i>Betrayal</i>, of which he directed the premiere in 1978), and opera (<i>La Cenerentola</i>, the Rossini version of <i>Cinderella</i>).

Shared uncertainty - Rolex Mentor Protégé

One of the world’s most accomplished directors across an extraordinary range of theatre, encompassing serious drama, musicals, opera and Shakespeare on film, Julie Taymor had no inhibitions about sharing with young British director Selina Cartmell the mechanics and the headaches behind creating a new opera, Grendel. Cartmell’s own rich theatrical vision, crossing disciplines and taking inspiration from today’s most daring directors, Taymor included, meant that these two theatre-makers had a wealth of ideas and experience to share with each other.

Travellers - Rolex Mentor Protégé

A young mother, beginning her career as a novelist in Australia, and a renowned Nigerian author, often in demand internationally for his opinions and insights, are worlds apart in terms of geography, culture and experience.

Meetings

Beyond his desire to succeed, it was Caballé-Domenech’s passion for music that caught Sir Colin’s eye. “He’s pretty wild. One should be wild when one is young.”

Landscapes of light - Rolex Mentor Protégé

Throughout the mentoring year young Mexican lighting designer Sebastián Solórzano Rodríguez sat alongside Jennifer Tipton, one of the world’s greatest exponents of the art of lighting, as she lit up rehearsals and performances in London, Barcelona, Paris, New York, Houston and Madrid. Rodríguez also invited his mentor to Mexico City, his home town. They had a concrete plan of action at the beginning of the mentoring year, the results of which, Rodríguez later said, were that his life “has changed forever.”

Robert Lepage & Matías Umpierrez - Rolex Mentor and Protégé

Artistic soulmates who refuse to be typecast, Robert Lepage and his protégé Matías Umpierrez borrow from various disciplines to furnish their eclectic, maverick productions.

Zakir Hussain & Marcus Gilmore

“I see him as a bit of a sage. He’s like a kind of Yoda, he really is,” says Marcus Gilmore talking of his Rolex Arts Initiative mentor the legendary drummer Zakir Hussain.

A harmony of musical souls

In encounters in cities from Los Angeles to Helsinki, the mentorship of Finland’s Kaija Saariaho and Portugal’s Vasco Mendonça unfolded smoothly, establishing a joyful professional friendship that was both dynamic and highly productive.

The Nurturer and the Hunter - Rolex Mentor Protégé

Brian Eno, who became famous in the 1970s as part of the glam-rock band, Roxy Music, has never stopped finding new ways to be creative, using all the media that today’s fast-developing technology can provide.

Carousel of dreams - Rolex Mentor Protégé

Driven by the same passion for music in all its forms and a history of creating songs with political overtones, Gilberto Gil and Dina El Wedidi forged a close relationship as the Brazilian icon helped the young Egyptian move on to the world stage.

Meetings - Rolex Mentor Protégé

“I thought that Federico was in some ways the least likely of them (possible protégés). First I said to myself: ‘No.’ Then I thought that with him I’d be taking the biggest risk. It’s exciting when you really don’t know yet what will develop.”

Ohad Naharin & Londiwe Khoza - Rolex Mentor and Protégé

Since being thrust into the unconventional world of Israeli choreographer Ohad Naharin for a year, South African dancer Londiwe Khoza’s ability to interpret her own body has been transformed.

On location - Rolex Mentor Protégé

Signing on for the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative, Mira Nair let it be known just what sort of young partner she wanted: “Find me a girl from Karballah!” Yet Nair chose a boy, or rather, a young man, from Thailand: Aditya Assarat, 33.

A meeting of minds - Rolex Mentor Protégé

What could a polymath patrician of German intellectual life have in common with a young, African-American poet? A lot more than you would think, but the singular truth is that it is their differences that seem to make the mentorship flourish.

Colm Tóibín & Colin Barrett - Rolex Mentor et Protégé

“We’ve been able to talk in a way that you just can’t even with your loved ones,” says the writer Colm Tóibín.

Encounters on the digital frontier - Rolex Mentor Protégé

A shared interest in history, technology and religion created an immediate rapport between mentor Margaret Atwood and her protégée Naomi Alderman.

Pilgrimage for body and soul - Rolex Mentor Protégé

Eduardo Fukushima moved to Taiwan for the mentoring year in order to observe how Lin Hwai-min’s company, the Cloud Gate Dance Theatre, works at home and on tour.

A year of mentoring - Rolex Mentor Protégé

During the year of mentoring, Méndez shot his feature film <I>Dioses</I> with the guidance of Stephen Frears. While they initially met in Lima, the real discussions between mentor and protégé began on a trip to the long-lost, mountain-top, Inca city of Machu Picchu – an hour by plane plus four hours by bus from the capital.

The art and heart of making films - Rolex Mentor Protégé

The spectacular, exquisitely coloured scenes and riveting storylines created by Zhang Yimou in some of contemporary cinema’s most iconic works, including Raise the Red Lantern, To Live and Hero, have won the Chinese director an unparalleled global audience, going far beyond the normal fan base for “foreign films”.

Like a Hollywood script - Rolex Mentor Protégé

In a highly eventful mentoring year, protégé Tom Shoval was invited to watch post-production work on Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s masterpiece, <i>Birdman</i>, and was present when his mentor received three Academy Awards for his film at the 2015 Oscars.

Shared lenses - Rolex Mentor Protégé

On a mellow summer afternoon, Celina Murga sits under a vast, old tree on the grounds of a derelict 19th-century insane asylum outside Medfield, Massachusetts.

Alchemy in the editing room - Rolex Mentor Protégé

The mentoring year allowed Sara Fgaier, who teaches film editing, to observe and work with Walter Murch as he made the final edits of a new documentary, Particle Fever.

Alfonso Cuarón & Chaitanya Tamhane – Rolex Mentor et Protégé

Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón’s latest film is shrouded in mystery, yet he is happy to share its secrets with protégé Chaitanya Tamhane.

Mia Couto & Julián Fuks - Rolex Mentor and Protégé

A shared sense of inherited exile is one affinity between Mia Couto and his protégé Julián Fuks, who wants help to venture from family history into invented worlds.

Maps for a writer's journey - Rolex Mentor Protégé

With much in common – they have both changed countries and cultures, and have careers as both teachers and writers – Canadian Michael Ondaatje and United States-based Bulgarian Miroslav Penkov quickly developed a strong literary friendship, exchanging messages and travelling to Bulgaria together.

Meetings - Rolex Mentor Protégé

“At one stage, I thought of putting my manuscript on hold and beginning something entirely different. Toni shook her head: ‘No, no.’” Protégée Julia Leigh, speaking about the encouragement she received from Toni Morrison.

Breaking ground - Rolex Mentor Protégé

With much in common – they have both changed countries and cultures, and have careers as both teachers and writers – Canadian Michael Ondaatje and United States-based Bulgarian Miroslav Penkov quickly developed a strong literary friendship, exchanging messages and travelling to Bulgaria together.

Literary relationship - Rolex Mentor Protégé

Antonio García Ángel thought Mario Vargas Llosa was going to help him write a new novel. In fact, Llosa showed him a whole new way of working.

Meetings - Rolex Mentor Protégé

Alone among the senior partners of the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative, Forsythe proposed a steady collaboration throughout the mentoring year.

Zen and the art of mentoring - Rolex Mentor Protégé

During the mentoring year, young Chinese architect Yang Zhao designed a Home-for-All, a communal gathering place that was part of a project created by his mentor Kazuyo Sejima and other leading Japanese architects in response to the devastation caused by the 2011 tsunami in Japan.

A feeling for atmosphere - Rolex Mentor Protégé

Switzerland, Paraguay and South Korea were the principal settings for Peter Zumthor and Gloria Cabral’s busy, collaborative partnership which grew rapidly from the start.

Meetings - Rolex Mentor Protégé

One of the world’s greatest architects, Alvaro Siza from Portugal, and a young Jordanian architect, Sahel Al-Hiyari, found common ground in their views on the theory and practice of architecture, which enhanced their many intense discussions and outings, especially to visit Siza’s groundbreaking works.

A pas de deux of ideas - Rolex Mentor Protégé

Classical ballet is not frozen in the past but is a living, evolving art – this conviction provided a shared faith for mentor Alexei Ratmansky and protégé Myles Thatcher.

Crystal Pite & Khoudia Touré - Rolex Mentor et Protégé

“If I had to find one word to sum up the last two years, it would be ‘transformation’,” says Khoudia Touré, with the broadest of smiles.

Dance and the art of subversion - Rolex Mentor Protégé

For more than three decades, Trisha Brown has dominated the dance firmament like a blazing sun. Not only has she created a series of the most memorable contemporary choreographies, she has also turned dance on its head, breaking rules and crossing boundaries. Those who have had the privilege of working with her have seen their lives transformed. Now Lee Serle, a young dancer from Australia, is thrust – to his delight – into the complex, demanding dance arena that is the Trisha Brown Dance Company.

David Adjaye & Mariam Kamara - Rolex Mentor et Protégé

A visit to Mariam Kamara’s native Niger was the turning point in the relationship between her and world-famous Ghanaian-British architect David Adjaye.

A clear plan - Rolex Mentor Protégé

It began with Junaid watching Saburo Teshigawara managing lights and arranging the stage. It ended with him dancing a major role in the Tokyo premiere of <i>Kazahana</i>

Sir David Chipperfield & Simon Kretz - Rolex Mentor and Protégé

Instead of collaborating on a building during the mentoring year, Sir David Chipperfield and his Swiss protégé Simon Kretz decided to investigate how planning shapes a city and gives voice to the aspirations of its citizens.

Merging differences - Rolex Mentor Protégé

When it came to choosing who was to be her protégé for a year, Belgian choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker took a risk.

A year of mentoring - Rolex Mentor Protégé

After holding key roles at a world-famous dance company for over three decades, celebrated Czech-born choreographer and Rolex dance mentor Jiří Kylián was seeking a new direction in his work, focusing on cross-disciplinary projects and the great potential of contemporary technology.

A passion for architecture - Arts

When Rolex constructs or expands its headquarters and production facilities, it brings the same attention to aesthetics and detail as it gives to designing one of its prized chronometers.

A dynamic tower for Dallas - Arts

Rolex’s ethos of design and innovation of the highest quality extends to the buildings the company commissions all over the world. In Dallas, Japanese architect Kengo Kuma has designed an office tower that twists out of the ground.

Series of concerts breathes life back into musical world

Spearheaded by Rolex Testimonees, the “Perpetual Music” initiative not only entertains a global audience, it also provides artists the opportunity to do what they love most – perform and share their gift.

Living together sustainably

Rolex is supporting the International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia for the fourth time since 2014. The event, part of Rolex’s commitment to the arts and culture, is a crucible for ideas that reflect an era of intense change.

Learning from a Master - Arts

The fiercely tender art of Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Oscar-winning director of Birdman, first touched young cineaste Tom Shoval at a movie theatre in Tel Aviv. A decade and a half later, Shoval found himself under Iñárritu’s wing as a protégé in the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative. He learned first-hand from his mentor how to be a complete film-maker, absorbing more life lessons along the way. Here, Shoval gives us memorable snapshots of his experience during his mentoring year in 2014–2015.

Japan’s Architectural Poet - Arts

Kazuyo Sejima’s elegant minimalism has redefined the public building. Her designs for the undulating Rolex Learning Center and other major buildings have ensured that she has a global following and a busy practice. But she still had time to nurture an emerging architect as part of the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative.

I'm not a young conductor anymore - Arts

Rolex Testimonee Gustavo Dudamel has the world at his feet. The charismatic Venezuelan conductor has shaken the foundations of classical music with his open mind and bold, new interpretations of old classics.

Series of concerts breathes life back into musical world - Video

Spearheaded by Rolex Testimonees, the “Perpetual Music” initiative not only entertains a global audience, it also provides artists the opportunity to do what they love most – perform and share their gift.

David Adjaye & Mariam Kamara - Video

Convinced that the goal of architecture is to transform, British-Ghanaian architecture mentor Sir David Adjaye and his protégée Mariam Kamara from Niger set about producing a concrete result for social good, with Kamara designing a major cultural complex for her country’s capital, Niamey.

Plácido Domingo - The constant reinvention

As the 20th century drew to a close, arts journalists not only in Spain but the world over acquired the absurd habit of asking Plácido Domingo when he was planning to retire. The singer was approaching 60 and the question became commonplace.

Mentors and Protégés for 2020-2021 - Arts Initiative - Rolex Mentor Protégé

Artistic masters Spike Lee, Phyllida Lloyd, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Carrie Mae Weems will pass on their creative legacy to rising talents in the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative.

The latest mentoring pairs - Rolex Mentor & Protégé

Alexei Ratmansky & Myles Thatcher - Video

Russian-born choreographer Alexei Ratmansky and his protégé Myles Thatcher share a deep respect for the “language” that is classical dance. Both are intensely involved in reinvigorating their art form for the 21st century. A perfect partnership.

Alfonso Cuarón and Chaitanya Tamhane - Video

For Indian protégé Chaitanya Tamhane, his mentoring year with Academy-award winning film director Alfonso Cuarón was a stroke of fortune. He describes his mentor’s image-based film-making as “like watching magic”. Tamhane says his approach to cinema will never be the same again.

Kaija Saariaho and Vasco Mendonça - Video

Composing music is a solitary occupation. For Finland’s Kaija Saariaho and her protégé, Portugal’s Vasco Mendonça the mentorship delivered a rare opportunity to “enrich” each other discussing music in concert halls around Europe and in the United States.

About the Rolex arts initiative - Rolex Mentor and Protégé

The Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative contributes to global culture by helping ensure that the world’s artistic heritage is passed on to the next generation.

Rolex Mentors & Protégés Community

The Rolex Arts Initiative has evolved into a global creative community that has enabled an enriching dialogue between artists of different generations, cultures and disciplines. Since 2002 more than 1,100 people in 105 countries have been nominated for the programme. Advisors include 123 major artists and creative leaders, while 253 influential figures in the arts have nominated young artists and selected finalists. More than 50 of the world’s greatest artists have served as mentors.

Wole Soyinka and Tara June Winch - Video

Declaring their mentorship to be “a process of development”, Wole Soyinka, first African Laureate of the Nobel Prize for Literature, encourages his protégée, Tara June Winch, as she agonizes over her writing. When anyone writes, he says, himself included, “it’s all over the place.” It’s the rewriting that follows that marks out a true writer.

Peter Sellars and Maya Zbib - Video

With a live performance and both Chicago and Beirut as the backdrop, Peter Sellars and Maya Zbib give surprising – and very different – explanations of the nature of art, as well as describing each other, their mentorship and how to change the world.

Anish Kapoor and Nicholas Hlobo - Video

In a mentorship that is a process, rather than a collaboration on a joint work, Nicholas Hlobo’s art, which springs from many hours of precise handicraft, is contrasted with the monumental pieces created by his mentor Anish Kapoor, that seem “to be made by the gods”.

Rebecca Horn and Masanori Handa - Video

Two enigmatic visual artists, Rebecca Horn and Masanori Handa, from very different countries, Germany and Japan, quickly develop a strong friendship and a mutual admiration for each other’s category-defying work. Communication during their mentorship is not confined to language – drawing together enables them to boost their joint creativity.

Zakir Hussain & Marcus Gilmore - Video

Indian tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain and young American drummer Marcus Gilmore believe that creating music must be based on keeping the past but also exploring new possibilities.

Michael Ondaatje and Miroslav Penkov - Video

Bulgarian protégé Miroslav Penkov could not believe that his mentor was Michael Ondaatje, “someone who stands so tall in a field of giants”. For Ondaatje, author of The English Patient, “our lives are utterly disordered”, so watching Penkov bring order into life by writing fiction was a source of pleasure.

Julie Taymor and Selina Cartmell - Video

Julie Taymor, famous for creating spectacular theatre, film and opera, wanted to mentor “someone I can have a dialogue with”. She found her in British director Selina Cartmell, for whom the mentorship is an ideal opportunity for the rare privilege of watching another director at work as Taymor creates a new opera, Grendel.

John Baldessari and Alejandro Cesarco - Video

Renowned American conceptual artist John Baldessari believes that “art is more than just painting”. His mentorship of Alejandro Cesarco (from Uruguay) is an intense collaboration that combines visuals, text, irony and humour in the creation of a new work of art.

Colm Tóibín & Colin Barrett - Video

Irish writer Colin Barrett recognizes that writing is a solitary pursuit, but also acknowledges the need to escape solitude and meet other people and fellow authors.

Stephen Frears and Josué Mendez - Video

“For a Peruvian to work with [Stephen] Frears, it’s just not possible”, says young Lima film-maker Josué Mendez of the respected British director. But that’s exactly what happens when Frears chooses Mendez as his protégé and they share the “very precise art” of film-making, with Mendez directing his second full-length feature.

Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and Anani Dodji Sanouvi - Video

Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, one of the world’s most distinguished choreographers, says of her protégé, Togolese dancer Anani Dodji Sanouvi, “he is like the sun … he has an energy that is inspiring.” Sanouvi in turn declares that a year being mentored by De Keersmaeker is the chance of a lifetime.

Trisha Brown and Lee Serle - Video

For young Australian dancer Lee Serle, a year in New York being mentored by one of the world’s greatest choreographers, Trisha Brown, is an opportunity to “go back to the source”, as both mentor and protégé search for originality, humanity and beauty of movement.

Zhang Yimou and Annemarie Jacir - Video

For Zhang Yimou, China’s creator of dazzling films, success is not about inspiration but the fruit “of hardships and efforts” as he meticulously masters every single scene. For his protégée Annemarie Jacir, working alongside him on set and in the editing room as he makes The Flowers of War, his supreme “visual sense” is the key to his rich and moving stories.

Walter Murch and Sara Fgaier - Video

What does a film editor do? Walter Murch, editor of many iconic films, and his protégée, Italian film editor Sara Fgaier, provide succinct descriptions of the complex skill of constructing a feature film, the focus of their year-long mentorship.

Lin Hwai-min and Eduardo Fukushima - Video

Young Brazilian dancer Eduardo Fukushima moves from São Paulo to Taiwan, where his mentor, Asia’s premier choreographer Lin Hwai-min, elaborates his unique philosophy of movement and being. A year with this “very generous person” has “transformed my life”, Fukushima declares.

Rolex.org - Mario Vargas Llosa and Antonio García Ángel - Video

“One cannot teach how to write, but one can teach a young writer what not to do when writing a novel,” declares Peru’s Nobel literature laureate, Mario Vargas Llosa. This and many other lessons are the basis of a highly productive mentorship with his protégé, novelist Antonio García Ángel, from Colombia, who emails his writing to his mentor every week and then engages in a literary critique by telephone.

Mira Nair and Aditya Assara - Video

When Thai film-maker Aditya Assarat shadows his mentor, Mira Nair, on set as she directs The Namesake in Kolkata, India, he discovers some of the secrets of her lavish cinematography. “She’s like the host of a party. That goes a lot towards holding the film crew together.” Nair describes it differently: “It’s about orchestrating chaos,” she says.

Olafur Eliasson and Sammy Baloji - Video

For Sammy Baloji, who had mainly worked in photography, immersion in the life and work of mentor and multimedia artist Olafur Eliasson brought a transformation, enriching his work and bringing a greater complexity of language as he discovered new materials and modes of expression.

Rolex.org - Our apologies

William Kentridge and Mateo López - Video

Visual arts protégé Mateo López is, thanks to his architecture background, “incredibly precise”, says mentor William Kentridge. In his Johannesburg studio, Kentridge pushes his protégé out of his “comfort zone”, helping him to develop a more spontaneous approach to creativity.

Robert Wilson and Federico León - Video

Mentoring is not learning in the conventional sense. It’s really the idea of interacting. Two artists meet and interact,” says gifted Argentinean director Federico León of his year of collaborating with his mentor, the legendary director and artist Robert Wilson.

Robert Lepage and Matías Umpierrez - Video

Canada’s Robert Lepage is world famous for his mastery of multidimensional productions. With his global outlook and mastery of technology, his protégé, Matías Umpierrez of Argentina, is also pushing the boundaries of theatre. Their pairing produced a fascinating exchange that Lepage described as “the best relationship possible”.

Patrice Chéreau and Michał Borczuch - Video

The late French director Patrice Chéreau described himself as “a slave to the text”. His protégé Michał Borczuch takes the opposite approach, with an “anarchistic” style of direction. “I wasn’t interested in somebody who was doing something similar to me,” Chéreau said.

Sir Peter Hall and Lara Foot - Video

Under the subtle and experienced eye of British director Sir Peter Hall, his protégée, South Africa’s Lara Foot, directs a play – that she also wrote – exposing a taboo subject in her country. “South Africa is a country of contradictions,” she says, and these contradictions lend themselves to brilliant theatre, as Lara Foot demonstrates.

Rolex.org - Our apologies

Álvaro Siza & Sahel Al-Hiyari - Video

For Álvaro Siza, Portugal’s master architect, his profession is not about copying designs of the past. His protégé, Sahel Al-Hiyari, says “with Siza … it’s much deeper than that.” Al-Hiyari explains that “architecture is synonymous with human existence. It’s one’s second skin.”

David Hockney and Matthias Weischer - Video

“I’ve never done any teaching,” says David Hockney, Britain’s most famous living artist. He agreed to be a mentor in the hope he would not only teach, but also learn. Traveling and painting with his protégé, Germany’s Matthias Weischer, Hockney says, “I’ve got a new friend, a young painter. A good teacher learns from pupils.”

Jennifer Tipton and Sebastián Solórzano Rodríguez - Video

Jennifer Tipton, one of the world’s greatest lighting designers, declares that “light is the substance of our existence”. Her protégé, Mexico’s Sebastián Solórzano Rodríguez, agrees completely as he witnessed Tipton creating lighting for performances at theatres and opera houses all over the world.

Philip Glass and Pauchi Sasaki - Video

For composer Philip Glass, “music is a place”. He chose Pauchi Sasaki, from Peru, as his protégée because he was convinced she would gain most from the mentoring year. He helped her navigate not only the subtleties of composing but also the practicalities of living as a professional musician.

Youssou N’Dour and Aurelio Martínez - Video

A year’s mentorship with Youssou N’Dour gives Aurelio Martínez, from Honduras, not only an opportunity to boost his musical skills and self-confidence in the company of “the icon of African music”, but also to learn more about the historic and musical background of his African ancestors as he visits N’Dour’s continent for the first time.

Kate Valk and Nahuel Perez Biscayart - Video

Argentinian actor Nahuel Perez Biscayart shifts to New York to spend a year with his mentor, Kate Valk, a founding member of the Wooster Group. There he finds that inspiration comes as a result of producing, trying, failing and finding the beauty in accidents.

Sir Colin Davis and Josep Caballé-Domenech - Video

One of the world’s greatest conductors, (the late) Sir Colin Davis believed that “you don’t control an orchestra, you are allowing things to happen.” Preparation and a deep cultural sense are what a conductor needs – lessons that Sir Colin instilled into his brilliant protégé, Josep Caballé-Domenech, from Spain.

Pinchas Zukerman and David Aaron Carpenter - Video

World-renowned violinist and conductor Pinchas Zukerman says “the fiddle is synonymous with my existence”. He finds the same commitment in his protégé, young American violist David Aaron Carpenter, from the United States.

Gilberto Gil and Dina El Wedidi - Video

For Egyptian singer Dina El Wedidi and her mentor, Brazilian music icon Gilberto Gil, differences in culture are not an obstacle to a productive mentorship. Quite the opposite. “She wanted to experience that friction between Egypt and Brazil,” Gil says.

Jessye Norman and Susan Platts - Video

Rolex Mentor and Protégée in Music, 2004 - 2005

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Brian Eno and Ben Frost - Video

As they create a track of electronic music during their mentoring year, multimedia artists Brian Eno and Ben Frost reveal the two sides of composition, finding inspiration and analyzing the music they create and how it will be heard.

Hans Magnus Enzensberger and Tracy K. Smith - Video

In a mentorship that they describe as an intense and joyful conversation, poets Hans Magnus Enzensberger (from Germany) and Tracy K. Smith (American) explore the nature of poetry – “Everyone has poetry in their head,” Enzensberger proclaims. But their quest goes further, examining history and identity as Smith realizes a longstanding desire to write her family memoir.

Mia Couto and Julián Fuks - Video

Mia Couto’s mentoring relationship with Julián Fuks was a fusion of interests wrought by their mutual experiences as writers living in former colonies of Portugal. Liberated from his “autofiction” style of writing by his mentor, Fuks found he was able to explore his imagination in a different way.

Margaret Atwood and Naomi Alderman - Video

Canada’s grand mistress of fiction Margaret Atwood likens mentoring to door-opening. “We speak the same language,” Atwood says of her protégée, young British author Naomi Alderman. Their relationship even extends to writing a zombie novella together.

Toni Morrison and Julia Leigh - Video

Nobel literature laureate Toni Morrison is not only a novelist and teacher, she is also an experienced editor – the perfect mentor for young, Australian writer Julia Leigh as she starts on her second novel.

Tahar Ben Jelloun and Edem Awumey - Video

Moroccan-born and now one of France’s most fêted writers, Tahar Ben Jelloun declares that “literature is not reassuring, it’s disturbing”. Edem, from Togo, writing a novel of “dark nights and ghosts”, was the ideal protégé to accompany in the challenging process of creating fiction.

Alejandro G. Iñárritu and Tom Shoval - Video

Young Israeli director Tom Shoval’s year of mentoring evolved with the excitement worthy of a Hollywood film script. Shoval spent weeks on the set of Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s film 'The Revenant' with the Oscar winner revealing all the “infinite possibilities” of film-making.

Martin Scorsese and Celina Murga - Video

For American master of cinema Martin Scorsese, to be a good film director, you need to become part of the world you are filming. His protégée, Argentinean director Celina Murga, does so with passion, he declares, describing her as a natural film-maker. The admiration is mutual. “Marty’s the perfect mentor,” says Murga.

Jiří Kylián and Jason Akira Somma - Video

Jason Akira Somma describes himself as “a dance visual artist”, transcending artistic boundaries. In Jiří Kylián he finds not only a mentor, but also a generous “life coach” happy to share a lifetime’s experience. The mentorship, says Somma, “has absolutely changed my life”.

William Forsythe and Sang Jijia - Video

William Forsythe, one of the greatest innovators of modern dance, believes that ballet “shouldn’t be left in the 19th century”. His radical approach finds the perfect protégé in Sang Jijia, a gifted Chinese dancer of Tibetan origin. “Sang-ba is like unpolluted water,” says Forsythe. “He runs clear.”

Crystal Pite & Khoudia Touré - Video

Dance is a wordless art form with few guidebooks, so for two choreographers − hip-hop dancer Khoudia Touré, from Senegal, and Canadian superstar choreographer Crystal Pite — to work face-to-face was a priceless experience.

Saburo Teshigawara and Junaid Jemal Sendi - Video

“Rolex has introduced me to the world,” says Ethiopia’s Junaid Jemal Sendi, whose life has been transformed by dance. His mentorship, under leading Japanese choreographer Saburo Teshigawara, takes Sendi to Europe and Japan. “Now he has just opened his own future door,” says Teshigawara in admiration. “And he wants to go further.”

Ohad Naharin and Londiwe Khoza - Video

South African Londiwe Khoza started dancing at age five, but when she joined Ohad Naharin’s Batsheva Dance Company in Tel Aviv for the mentoring year, she had to learn to dance in a way that required a new kind of body awareness. After three months, she “stopped thinking and started feeling it”.

Sir David Chipperfield and Simon Kretz - Video

For Sir David Chipperfield and his Swiss protégé Simon Kretz, the mentoring year provided the perfect opportunity for a detailed examination of the impact of architecture on society – how buildings can create strong communities if they relate to people and the environment.

Kazuyo Sejima and Yang Zhao - Video

Japanese mentor Kazuyo Sejima and protégé Yang Zhao believe architecture is about more than constructing buildings – it’s about changing lives. They put their conviction into practice with a humanitarian project as Zhao designs a community gathering place in a tsunami-devastated area.

Peter Zumthor and Gloria Cabral - Video

Gloria Cabral, from Asunción in Paraguay, spent weeks at the Swiss studio of her mentor Peter Zumthor, who involved her in the whole process of building a tea chapel in South Korea, opening up her mind “in a radical way”.

Rolex.org - Our apologies

Rolex.org - Our apologies

Rolex.org - Our apologies

Rolex.org - Our apologies

Rolex.org - Our apologies

An interview with Martin Scorsese - Rolex and Cinema

To future filmmakers Martin Scorsese says: “Don’t be afraid to try anything, no matter how crazy it might seem to others.” These are encouraging words from this director, producer and screenwriter who is responsible for many of the biggest classics in film history. He is always pushing boundaries and helping to promote the creative spark in others.

An interview with James Cameron - Rolex and Cinema

James Cameron is acknowledged for using trail-blazing technology in his films, but when it comes to advice for emerging filmmakers he says to “stay in touch with the human heart”. The director of <i>Titanic</i> and <i>Avatar</i> believes nothing is more important than “speaking with an authentic voice and portraying the human condition at its most elemental level”.