The Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement of the 66th Venice International Film Festival (September 2-12, 2009) is to be awarded to the American director and producer, John Lasseter and to the directors of Disney-Pixar. For the first time, the award celebrates not only a single filmmaker, but also the contribution of all the directors of this visionary studio.
The Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement -- assigned by the Board of Directors of the Venice Biennale, chaired by Paolo Baratta, following the proposal from the Festival Director, Marco Muller -- will be presented to Lasseter at a special ceremony in the Sala Grande of the Palazzo del Cinema at Venice Lido, during the 66th Venice International Film Festival, in the presence of some of his oldest and closest Disney/Pixar colleagues, Brad Bird, Pete Docter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich.
"John Lasseter is the protagonist of Western contemporary animation cinema," said Muller. "Always on the lookout for that point at which the avant-garde, whether artistic, technological or formal, meets the blockbuster and the director of magnificent films -- such as TOY STORY, A BUG'S LIFE, TOY STORY 2 and CARS, Lasseter has not only contributed in a fundamental manner to bringing animation cinema to new heights as one of the great expressive forces of the new millennium, but has also become one of the symbols of the most precious, vital and inventive tradition of the great Hollywood cinema."
