Star Wars director George Lucas will present John Lasseter and the directors of Disney Pixar - Brad Bird, Peter Docter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich - with the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 66th Venice International Film Festival.

Lucas, who is making his first trip to the festival, will present Lasseter and the team with the award at a special awards ceremony on September 6 in the Sala Grande of the Palazzo del Cinema on the Lido di Venezia.

During the 1980s, Lasseter worked in the graphics group of Lucasfilm’s Computer Division. Whilst at the company he designed and animated the figure of the stained glass knight in Young Sherlock Holmes (1985), the first character ever made by computer for a live-action film. He went on to found Pixar in 1986.

Lasseter is chief creative officer of Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios and principal creative advisor, Walt Disney Imagineering. His animated films include the Academy Award-winning Toy Story (1995) as well as A Bug’s Life (1998), Toy Story 2 (1999) and Cars (2006).

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