LONDON – British-American film-maker Christopher Nolan, fresh from his Oscar victory for historical drama Oppenheimer, will receive a knighthood from Britain for services to film.

His wife and film producer Emma Thomas will receive a damehood – the female equivalent of a knighthood – the British government said on March 28 in a list of honours recommended by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak that also included Conservative politicians and tech industry leaders.

Oppenheimer, a blockbuster biopic about the race to build the first atomic bomb, won seven Academy Awards earlier in March, including the best picture trophy and Nolan’s first best director Oscar. His other highly regarded films include the Batman trilogy (2005 to 2012), Inception (2010), Interstellar (2014) and Dunkirk (2017).

Nolan wrote the screenplay for Oppenheimer and produced the film with Thomas.

Among others to receive a knighthood were Mr Demis Hassabis, chief executive of Google’s DeepMind. Other figures from the world of artificial intelligence (AI) who were honoured include Mr Matthew Clifford, an AI adviser to the British government, and entrepreneur Ian Hogarth, chair of the AI Safety Institute, both of whom were bestowed with CBEs (Commander of the Order of the British Empire).

Billionaire businessman and Conservative Party donor Mohamed Mansour was given a knighthood for business, charity and political service.

Mr Sunak doled out awards to his Conservative lawmakers too, with knighthoods for Mr Philip Davies and Mr Mark Spencer and damehoods for Ms Tracey Crouch and Ms Harriett Baldwin.

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos was awarded an honorary CBE for services to creative industries. REUTERS