Determined and charismatic, the American actress Sigourney Weaver is the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 81st Venice International Film Festival, scheduled from August 28 to September 7. The Venice Biennale announced it. Seventy-four years old, she has worked with great directors from Woody Allen to Ridley Scott to James Cameron. The award was decided by the board of directors of the Biennale, chaired by Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, who endorsed the proposal of the director of the Festival, Alberto Barbera. After the small part in Allen’s Annie Hall, she became famous for her performance in Ridley Scott’s Alien saga, establishing herself among the first to portray a superheroine who is stronger and more intelligent than her team of men. Also famous for Ghostbusters (’84), for Ang Lee’s The Ice Storm (’97), and more recently for James Cameron’s Avatar and the TV series Hear the Forgotten Flowers. She has 7 Golden Globe nominations, and won two in the same year (1989, the first actress ever) as best supporting actress in a drama film, Gorillas in the Mist, and best actress in a comedy, Working Girl.
“I am truly honored,” Weaver said. “This award is a privilege that I share with all the directors and collaborators I have worked with over the years. I proudly accept this recognition, which also celebrates all those who have brought films to life.” Gifted with great temperament, she brought to the cinema an image of a confident and determined, dynamic and tenacious woman, not without letting a feminine sensitivity of intense magnetism shine through, with ever-changing nuances. The Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement is recognition of a star who has been able to build bridges between the most sophisticated auteur cinema and films that communicate with the public in a frank and original way, without ever giving up being herself.
