The upcoming 80th edition of the Venice Film Festival is set to honor two of its most frequent visitors. Liliana Cavani, a renowned director of the New Italian Cinema movement, and Tony Leung Chiu-wai, a celebrated Hong Kong actor, will receive Golden Lions for Lifetime Achievement.
Cavani is internationally recognized for her work on The Night Porter and is one of the key directors of the New Italian Cinema movement. She expressed her gratitude and excitement for the award, stating that it came as a wonderful surprise. She first made a name for herself in Venice in 1965 with Philippe Pétain: Processo a Vichy and has since directed several other notable films, including Galileo, I cannibali (The Year of the Cannibals), Il gioco di Ripley (Ripley’s Game), and Clarisse.
Leung, known for his collaborations with Wong Kar-wai, is equally thrilled with the news and hopes to celebrate the award with all the filmmakers he has worked with. He has starred in three Golden Lion winners, including A City of Sadness, Cyclo, and Lust, Caution, and won the Palme d’Or for best actor in 2001 for In the Mood for Love, one of his seven collaborations with Kar-wai.
According to Venice director Alberto Barbera, Cavani is an emblematic protagonist of the New Italian Cinema of the 1960s and a versatile artist who excels in television, theatre, and opera with the same unconventional spirit and intellectual ferment that have made her movies famous. He describes her gaze as political in the highest sense of the term, anti-dogmatic, non-aligned, brave, and open to a fertile ambiguity in the characters and situations she presents.
Barbera notes that Leung has achieved a unique profile as a pan-Asian and global star, confirming his presence within ever-shifting screen cultures. He deconstructs the traditional idea of male stardom and brings compelling sensitivity to all his roles, including in films like Hero, Infernal Affairs, Red Cliff, and more recently, Shang-chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
Overall, the Venice Film Festival is set to honor two luminaries of the film industry who have made significant contributions to cinema and whose work has had a profound impact on audiences worldwide.
