French actress Catherine Deneuve will receive an honorary Golden Lion at the 79th Venice Film Festival, which will be held from August 31 to September 10, announced Wednesday the Mostra, the oldest film festival in the world which this year celebrates its 90th birthday.
"It is a joy to receive this prestigious award at the Venice Film Festival, which I have loved and known for a long time, since
Luis Buñuel's '
Belle de jour
'
received the Golden Lion"
, reacted the 78-year-old actress, quoted in the festival press release.
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For Alberto Barbera, director of the Venice International Film Festival, this choice was obvious given the
“impressive number of films”
carried by the French actress,
“most of which are major international successes”.
The director also notes
"the equally remarkable number of prizes"
received by Catherine Deneuve, in particular two Césars for best actress, one for
Le Dernier Métro
by François Truffaut in 1981 and the other for
Indochine
by Régis Wargnier in 1993, which will earn her an Oscar nomination for best actress in a leading role,
"a rare privilege for an artist who is not American"
, confided the director of the Venice Film Festival.
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Then Catherine Deneuve also received a Palme d'honneur at Cannes in 2005, as well as the Silver Bear for best artistic contribution at Berlin in 2002 for
Eight Women
by François Ozon.
"An undeniable talent in the service of an acting gift, plus a sophisticated and rare beauty, attributes that have contributed to making her the very symbol of French cinema, a timeless diva and a true icon of the big screen",
added Alberto Barbera.
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Symbol of French cinema
This choice was also supported by the list of prestigious directors with whom Catherine Deneuve worked during her career.
Among these, the actress appeared in front of Roger Vadim's camera in 1963 in
Le vice et la vertu
, a feature film which takes up the work of the Marquis de Sade, alongside Annie Girardot and Robert Hossein.
Four years later, in 1967, she appeared on the poster for Luis Buñuel's film
Belle de jour
alongside Jean Sorel and Macha Méril.
Several big names in the seventh art therefore, to which we must add, among others, Jacques Demy, Roman Polanski, Marco Ferreri, Marcello Mastroianni, Gérard Depardieu and Lars von Trier.