Liliana Cavani and Tony Leung will receive the honorary Golden Lion at the Venice festival

The Italian director Liliana Cavani and the Hong Kong actor Tony Leung Chiu-wai will receive the honorary Golden Lion of the 80th venice festivalwhich will start on August 30, according to what its organizers announced today.

Cavani, who just turned 90, celebrated this “beautiful surprise” by participating in a contest in which he has participated on numerous occasions, from his documentary “Philippe Pétan: processo a Vicchy” (1965) to the biographies of Saint Francis of Assisi. (1966) or “Galileo” (1968).

For his part, Tony Leung, 60, also celebrated the prize of a Mostra in which he worked for three successful films with the Golden Lion: “Ciudad doliente” (1989) by Hou Hsiao-hsien, “Cyclo” (1995 ) by Tran Anh Hung and “Lust, caution” (2007) by Ang Lee.

“I feel surprised and honored by the news of the Venice Biennale. I ideally share this award with all the filmmakers I have worked with, because it is also a tribute to all of them”the actor said in a statement.

ANDhe director of the Mostra, Alberto Barbera, justified these Golden Lions for the Race due to the importance of the works of both winners for the cinema and for this international competitionthe oldest and one of the most prestigious on the planet.

Barbera said that Cavani was “one of the most emblematic protagonists of the new Italian cinema of the Seventies” and a “versatile artist capable of frequenting television, theater or lyrical music with the same unconventional spirit and the same intellectual restlessness”.

“His was always a non-conformist vision, free of ideological pretexts and unrelated to conditions, moved by the urgency of the continuous search for a truth hidden in the most hidden and mysterious parts of the human soul”, wrote.

On the other hand, it celebrated the Hong Konger, Best Actor at Cannes for Wong Kar-wai’s “In the mood for love” (2000), as “one of the most charismatic performers in contemporary cinema” whose “exceptional career was able to adapt in parallel to the development of cinema at an international and global level”.

The 80th edition of the Venice Film Festival will take place between August 30 and September 9.

With information from EFE