Bernardo Bertolucci is to receive the World Cinema Achievement Award at the seventh BBC Four World Cinema Awards.

Bertolucci will receive his award at a ceremony presented by Jonathan Ross on Oct 7 at the BFI Southbank in London.

With a career spanning five decades, Bertolucci is best known for The Conformist, Last Tango In Paris and the Academy Award-winning The Last Emperor.

Mark Bell, Commissioning Editor, BBC, Arts says: “It is an amazing privilege to welcome the legendary Bernardo Bertolucci to this year’s awards. He has been at the vanguard of Italian and Western cinema for nearly fifty years, and I am honoured to have him associated with this year’s Achievement Award.”

Last year’s inaugural BBC Four World Cinema Achievement Award was won by director Werner Herzog.

During the ceremony there will also be a presentation for the best foreign film, voted for by UK film writers. This year’s shortlist is:

Let The Right One In (dir. Tomas Alfredson)

I am Love (dir. Luca Guadagnino)

A Prophet (dir. Jacques Audiard)

The White Ribbon (dir. Michael Haneke)

Waltz With Bashir (dir. Ari Folman)

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