The Venice Film Festival announced on Monday that it will honor Wes Anderson with the Cartier Glory to the Filmmaker Award, a special honor given to “a personality who has made a particularly original contribution to the contemporary film industry.”
Anderson will receive the honor on Sept. 1 ahead of the premiere of his upcoming Netflix film, “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar.”
“Wes Anderson is one of the few directors whose unique and unmistakable style can be recognized with just one frame,” said Venice Film Festival director Alberto Barbera. “His formal universe harks back to a childlike and visionary aesthetic, dominated by pastel colors and obsessive care in preparing strictly symmetrical sequences populated by misfit dreamers who are incurably romantic and cheerful.”
Based on the Roald Dahl story of the same name, “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar” runs 37 minutes and follows a man who learns how to see without using his eyes in order to cheat at gambling only to have a change of heart towards his ill-gotten gains. The short story was written by Dahl as a tweak at his critics who called out the macabre nastiness of some of his other works.
The film sees Anderson reunite with his “Grand Budapest Hotel” star Ralph Fiennes, who leads a cast that includes Benedict Cumberbatch, Dev Patel, Ben Kingsley and Richard Ayoade. The film is set for release on Netflix in October.
“Wes Anderson’s professional community includes some of the most famous and accomplished actresses and actors of the world who morph into his creations to become incredible characters, heroes and villains,” said Cartier President/CEO Cyrille Vigneron. “His movies are formal art pieces in their construction. Through this endless creativity he continuously shares with us a truly humanistic view on the world.”
The 80th Venice Film Festival will run from Aug. 30 – Sept. 9.
