Longtime HFPA member Ahmed Lateef was honoured by the Indian Film Festival Los Angeles at a lunch at the House of Blues when he was presented with the festival’s lifetime achievement award.

It marked a long and varied career of accomplishments and achievements which were outlined to the audience by his friend of 60 years and fellow HFPA member Noel De Souza.

After attending film school at UCLA in the 1950s, Ahmed Lateef worked as a cameraman for director Roger Corman, became a film editor and went on to direct  more than 1,000 commercials,  becoming the first Indian to win a coveted Clio award.  He was also the first  to  make  a  music video, filming the first one in 1966 for Sergio Mendes.

Ahmed Lateef is regarded as a pioneer who paved the way for other Indian filmmakers who followed in his footsteps. He is still a valued member of the HFPA, working for an Indian newspaper and a magazine in Hong Kong  and has close ties to the Hawaiian Film Festival, which he visits annually.