Peter Weir To Receive Venice Film Festival’s Golden Lion For Lifetime Achievement
deadline.comThe Venice Film Festival will fete Australian director and screenwriter Peter Weir (Dead Poets Society, The Truman Show, Master & Commander) with its honorary Golden Lion at its forthcoming 80th edition.
Accepting the honor, Weir said: “The Venice Film Festival and its Golden Lion are part of the folklore of our craft. To be singled out as a recipient for a lifetime’s work as a director is a considerable honor.” Born in August 1944, Weir was one of the pivotal figures in the Australian New Wave cinema of the 70s.
He began his career in 1969 when he took a job with the government-funded Commonwealth Film Unit as a director. Weir struck out on his own in 1973 and directed his first feature film, the comic-horror The Cars That Ate Paris (1974), which he also wrote.
He won an international audience with Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), followed by The Last Wave (1977), for which he also co-wrote the screenplay.
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