Werner Herzog is awarded the Golden Lion for his lifetime achievements
The German director Werner Herzog was awarded the Golden Lion for his lifetime achievements at the opening night of the Venice Film Festival. A documentary by Herzog is shown at the festival.
Venice (dpa/d.de) – The German director Werner Herzog (photo) was presented the Golden Lion for his lifetime achievements on the opening night of the 82th Venice Film Festival.
The 86-year-old Hollywood legend Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather, Apocalypse Now) delivered the laudation honouring the 82-year-old director.
“One must celebrate the fact that someone like him can actually exist,” Coppola said. He described Herzog's films as “unique and very different from one another and magnificent”.
In his speech of thanks Herzog said: “Venice has always been good to me.”
His new documentary Ghost Elephants about a herd of elephants that have survived in the remote highlands of Angola is shown in Venice outside the formal competition.
Werner Herzog was born in Munich in 1942. He is a director (Nosferatu the Vampyre, Fitzcarraldo), producer, actor, voice actor and writer. Herzog is among the most important figures of international cinéma d'auteur and New German Cinema. In 2009, Time magazine included Herzog in its list of the world's 100 most influential people.