The eighty edition of the International Film Festival of the Venice Biennalescheduled on the Lido from 30 August to 9 September, slowly begins to warm up the engines and decides to open the dance by announcing the two artists who this year will be awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement: it is the director Liliana Cavani and of the actor Tony Leung Chiu-wai. The decision was taken by the Board of Directors of the Biennale, which endorsed the proposal of the Director of the Exhibition Alberto Barbera. «I am very happy and grateful to the Venice Biennale for this beautiful surprise», she declared, in accepting the proposal, Liliana Cavaniwho participated in the Venice Film Festival as early as 1965 with Philippe Pétain: Trial at VichyLeone di San Marco for the documentary, and then several times with Francis of Assisi (1966), Galileo (1968), The cannibals (1969), among others, up to Ripley’s game (2002) and Poor Clares (2012).
Tony Leung Chiu-wai – who starred in three Golden Lion films in Venice, Sorrowful city (1989) by Hou Hsiao-hsien, cyclo (1995) by Tran Anh Hung e Lust, Caution (2007) by Ang Lee – in accepting the proposal he mentioned emotion: «I am struck and honored by the news of the Venice Biennale. I ideally share this award with all the filmmakers I have worked with. This recognition is also a tribute to all of them». They were followed by the enthusiastic words of Barbera. Of Liliana Cavani he says: «His has always been a nonconformist thought, free from ideological preconceptions and released from conditioning of any kind, moved by the urgency of the continuous search for a truth hidden in the most hidden and mysterious parts of the human soul, up to the confines of spirituality. The characters in his films are immersed in a historical context that bears witness to an existential tension towards change, young people seeking answers to important questions, complex and problematic subjects which reflect the unresolved conflict between the individual and society ».
Tony Leung, on the other hand, is defined by the Festival Director as «one of the most charismatic interpreters of contemporary cinema, whose exceptional career has been able to evolve in parallel with the development of cinema in a transnational and global key. Established as a star of the Hong Kong pop scene in the 1980s, he is today internationally recognized as one of the most significant and versatile actors of his generation. capable of giving life to unforgettable characters in the most varied genres and at every latitude. His profile as a global star is also linked to his ability to cross the constantly changing cinematic imaginary typical of our time, marking with his presence highly commercially successful films in very different genres, languages and production scenarios, from the martial arts genre to Hero (2002) by Zhang Yimou, to the action-thriller Infernal Affairs (2002-03) by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak, to the war epic The Battle of the Three Kingdoms (2008-09) by John Woo, up to the recent contribution to the Marvel universe in Shang-chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)».
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Source: Vanity Fair
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