Werner Herzog to Receive Venice Film Festival Lifetime Achievement Golden Lion
Venice: German director Werner Herzog will be awarded the Venice Film Festival’s Lifetime Achievement Golden Lion during the 82nd edition of the world’s oldest cinema festival, which is scheduled to take place from August 27 to September 6. The Venice Biennale made this announcement on Tuesday.
According to Ansa News Agency, the 82-year-old filmmaker expressed his gratitude, stating, “I feel deeply honored to receive a Lifetime Achievement Honorary Golden Lion by the Venice Biennale.” Herzog, known for his works such as “Aguirre, the Wrath of God,” “Fitzcarraldo,” and “Nosferatu the Vampyre,” shared his thoughts on the recognition, adding, “I have always tried to be a Good Soldier of Cinema, and this feels like a medal for my work. Thank you.”
Despite the award, Herzog emphasized that he has not retired. “I work as always,” he remarked, revealing that he recently completed a documentary in Africa titled “Ghost Elephants” and is currently filming his next feature, “Bucking Fastard,” in Ireland. Furthermore, Herzog is developing an animated film based on his novel “The Twilight World” and is lending his voice to a creature in Bong Joon Ho’s upcoming animated film. He concluded, “I am not done yet.”
Venice Film Festival Artistic Director Alberto Barbera praised Herzog as a “physical filmmaker and indefatigable hiker,” acknowledging his relentless pursuit of unseen images and his ability to challenge perceptions and probe the limits of cinematic representation. Barbera described Herzog’s career as both “fascinating and hazardous” due to his total commitment and readiness to face physical risks in search of “a higher, ecstatic truth and new sensorial experiences.”
Barbera further lauded Herzog as “a brilliant narrator of unusual stories” and “the last heir of the great tradition of German romanticism.” He characterized Herzog as a visionary humanist and a tireless explorer dedicated to finding “a decent and fitting place for mankind, a Landscape of the Soul.”