Director c is to receive a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at this year’s festival.
Italy’s Marco Bellocchio will be the recipient of the 68th edition of the Venice Film Festival’s Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, the Biennale board of directors has announced on the recommendation of Venice Film Festival’s director Marco Mueller.
For the occasion, a new version of Bellocchio’s 1971 satire In The Name Of The Father will be screened following the award ceremony. The film is not a restoration but rather a new work composed out of the film’s original material, essentially a singular director’s cut that is slightly shorter (90 min) than the original (105 min).
Bellocchio has participated with his films in Venice sine 1967, when he brought China Is Near, his second film, which took the Special Jury Prize. More recently at Venice, his powerful well-received Aldo Moro drama Good Morning, Night (2003) screened in competition and his 2010 Sorelle Mai, an intimate glance at his own family life and was screened out of competition on the Lido.
In 2009, Bellocchio received wide acclaim for Vincere about Ida Dalser, the unknown wife of fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. Screened in competition at the Cannes Film Festival the film gave Bellocchio the chance to delve into the political subject matter for which he has often exhibited special talent and sensitivity.
“With each new film, Marco Bellocchio leads you to yet another destination, different from those you thought you had already reached and discovered,” said Venice Film Festival artistic director Marco Mueller.
Other Italian filmmakers still active today to receive the honourary Golden Lion include Bernardo Bertolucci and Ermanno Olmi.
The Venice Film Festival runs August 31-Sept 10.
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