Spike Lee has been awarded the Jaeger-LeCoultre Glory to the Filmmaker 2012 award, the Venice International Film Festival said Friday. The award honors innovators in contemporary cinema.
Lee will receive his honor on Friday, Aug. 31. His Michael Jackson documentary "Bad 25," will screen after the awards ceremony. The film marks the 25th anniversary of the "King of Pop"s' hit album "Bad."
Something of a political and artistic firebrand, Lee is best known for gritty dramas like "Do the Right Thing" (1989) and "25th Hour" (2002), as well as the sprawling biopic "Malcolm X" (1992). He scored a rare commercial hit with 2006's crime thriller "Inside Man."
“Spike Lee is a bold creative spirit, the author of daring and corrosive films, often unpredictable and provocative in the best sense of the term," Alberto Barbera, director of the Venice Film Festival, said in a statement. "Films that challenge us to rethink our prejudices and our preconceptions.”
