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Legendary American actress Ellen Burstyn, best known for her roles in The Last Picture Show, The Exorcist, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore and Requiem For A Dream, will receive the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival.
The festival’s artistic director Alberto Barbera described Burstyn as “an actress of rare intensity and truth,” adding that she had brought “depth and complexity to unforgettable female characters embodying the contradictions and transformations in the contemporary woman.”
Barbera continued: “Revealed in Peter Bogdanovich’s ‘The Last Picture Show,’ which portrayed the twilight of small-town America, and elevated to global stardom by the success of William Friedkin’s ‘The Exorcist,’ Burstyn won the Oscar for best actress for Martin Scorsese’s ‘Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,’ the film manifesto about women reclaiming their identity and their freedom.”
He added that the celebrated actress has worked with “some of the most important film directors of the time,” citing Alain Resnais (Providence), Paul Schrader (Hardcore) and Christopher Nolan (Interstellar).
Barbera also said that Burstyn “made fragility and methodical discipline the tools of an approach to acting grounded in emotional truth, attentiveness and generosity toward one’s characters. Her artistry, which could illuminate pain and everyday resilience with dignity, irony and courage, remains an absolute model of authenticity in performance and civic engagement within the craft of acting.”
Reacting to the news, 93-year-old Burstyn said in a statement: “Wow! I not only get to travel to one of my top most favorite cities in the whole world, I get to return home carrying a Golden Lion in my arms! The Lifetime Achievement Award from the Venice Film Festival! I feel so honored – so happy – so filled with gratitude! Wow indeed!”
The Golden Lion will be awarded to Burstyn on the occasion of the screening of Maggie Gyllenhaal’s short film Flesh Impact. Dedicated to Marilyn Monroe on the centenary of her birth, the film showcases Burstyn’s “uncommon talent as a performer,” the festival said.
The 83rd Venice Film Festival runs from 2 – 12 September.