MADRID (AP) — American film director Martin Scorsese and Africa's flying doctors are among scientists, mountaineers and intellectuals who received Spain's prestigious Princess of Asturias awards Friday from King Felipe VI.

In his acceptance speech in the northern Spanish city of Oviedo, Scorsese says he worries about the future of cinema. He warns that art should be regarded highly in contemporary culture.

Known as the Nobel Prizes of the Spanish-speaking world, the awards are named after the heir to the Spanish throne, Princess Leonor.

Other laureates are the nonprofit Amref Africa group, which uses planes and mobile technology to deliver health care across that vast continent; American political philosopher Michael J. Sandel; Mexican investigative journalist Alma Guillermoprieto; and mountaineers Reinhold Messner from Italy and Krzysztof Wielicki from Poland.

The awards come with a 50,000-euro ($56,500) prize.