Bertolucci awarded Honorary Palme d'Or

• April 13, 2011 09:21

The organizers of the 64th Cannes Film Festival said they will award the Honorary Palme d'Or to Italian filmmaker Bernardo Bertolucci at the opening ceremony of the 11-day festival next May.

Filmmaker Bertolucci, 71, has directed famous films such as "Last Tango in Paris", "The Last Emperor", "The Conformist", "The Sheltering Sky" and "Before the Revolution".

Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci. Source: Internet

Organising committee president Gilles Jacob said the quality of Bertolucci's work made him a worthy recipient of the Honorary Palme d'Or. Jacob praised the "originality" of Bertolucci's films and "the strength of the Italian director's dedication to cinema."

The jury also praised Bertolucci for directing masterpieces of Italian cinema that were personal. Bertolucci's political and social engagement, fueled by profound lyricism and elegant and precise direction, has given his films a unique place in the history of world cinema.

The Honorary Palme d'Or has been awarded before, but not on a regular basis, as it was to director Woody Allen in 2002 and director Clint Eastwood in 2009.

According to the Organizing Committee, from this year onwards, the Honorary Palme d'Or will be awarded each year to "an important filmmaker whose work is formative," but who has never won the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival, the Palme d'Or.

This year, the Cannes Film Festival will open on May 11 with director Woody Allen's latest film, "Midnight in Paris."

According to Vietnam+