Robert De Niro to be honoured with lifetime achievement award at Cannes

Robert De Niro is to be honoured with a lifetime achievement award at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival (May 13-24).

The US actor will receive the honorary Palme d’Or at the festival’s opening ceremony on May 13 and will deliver a masterclass the following day.

De Niro was previously head of the 2011 Cannes jury, which gave the top prize to Terrence Malick’s The Tree Of Life.

“I have such close feelings for Festival de Cannes,” De Niro said of receiving the award. “Especially now when there’s so much in the world pulling us apart, Cannes brings us together – storytellers, filmmakers, fans, and friends. It’s like coming home.”

De Niro began his career in the late 1960s before breaking out in the 1970s with films including Mean Streets and his Oscar-winning performance in The Godfather Part II. He is best known for his collaborations with Martin Scorsese which have seen him pick up the Oscar for leading actor for Raging Bull, and several other nominations, most recently for 2023’s Killers Of The Flower Moon.

Last year’s recipient of the Cannes lifetime achievement award was US filmmaker George Lucas.

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