(Rome) Australian director Peter Weir, who has signed among others Dead Poets Society And The Truman Showwill receive an honorary Golden Lion at the 81e Venice Film Festival, which will be held from August 28 to September 7, the Mostra announced on Thursday.
“The Venice Film Festival and its Golden Lion are part of the imagination of our profession. To be rewarded for the work of a lifetime is a great honor,” reacted the 79-year-old director, quoted in the festival press release.
“With only 13 films made over forty years, Peter Weir has secured his place in the firmament of the great directors of modern cinema,” praised the artistic director of the Mostra, Alberto Barbera.
Peter Weir won two BAFTAs, the British Oscars, for directing The Truman Show (1998), a biting satire on reality television starring Jim Carrey, and Master & Commander (2003), a naval epic starring Russell Crowe. In 2022, he became the first Australian to receive an honorary Oscar.