American director William Friedkin received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement of the 70^th Venice International Film Festival.

In presenting his recommendation for the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement to the Board of Directors, Alberto Barbera wrote that William Friedkin “has contributed in a prominent way – the revolutionary impact of which has not always been recognized – to the profound renewal of American cinema regarded as ‘the New Hollywood’. Friedkin exploded the rules of documentary filmmaking in several works for television that were seminal for their dry, harsh and unpredictable point of view, and later revolutionized the popular genres of the crime film and the horror film, basically inventing the modern blockbuster with The French Connection (1971, which won five Oscars, including Best Film and Best Director) and The Exorcist  (1973).  He was the director of films far ahead of their time, such as Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985) and Jade (1995, presented at the Venice Film Festival in the Notti veneziane section),some of which were only later reassessed as authentic masterpieces”.

Friedkin was recently acclaimed by critics and the public alike at the 2011 Venice Film Festival for Killer Joe, presented in the Competition section.

“Venice, especially during the Film Festival, is a spiritual home to me,” said William Friedkin. “The Golden Lion is something I never expected but am proud to accept with gratitude and love”.

 “I consider Sorcerer my most personal film and the most difficult to achieve. To realize that it’s going to have a new life in cinema is something for which I’m deeply grateful. To have its world premiere at the Venice Festival is something I look forward to with great joy. It is truly a Lazarus moment.”, William Friedkin said.

Henry Borzi