Pacino to receive Venice Fest Filmmaker Award

(AFP/JOEL SAGET)

The Venice International Film Festival announced it will present actor Al Pacino with its prestigious Glory to the Filmmaker Award at the upcoming 68th annual event, August 31 through September 10.

The honor will be bestowed on September 4 to "an artist who has left an original mark on contemporary cinema," as part of the Biennale di Venezia.

Festival director Marco Mueller described Pacino in a statement as "an amazing director, whose experience is precious and original, and enriches the world of contemporary film."

The ceremony will occur prior to the world premiere of the actor's third film, Wilde Salome, which he directed. " Wilde Salome is an exploration into the world of Oscar Wilde the artist and in Salome," said Pacino.

Wilde Salome stars Pacino as Herod and Jessica Chastain (the upcoming Tree of Life) as Salome. It will be released this autumn.

Pacino's body of film works include the role of Michael Corleone in Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather, as well as Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, Scarface, Heat, Glengarry Glen Ross, and Scent of a Woman, for which he won an Oscar for Best Actor.

Pacino also performs on the theatrical stage, having recently received a Tony Award nomination for the Broadway production of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice.

RC