Venice Film Fest to honour American director Brian de Palma

The famous American director Brian de Palma will be honoured by the Venice Film Festival with the Jaeger-LeCoultre Glory to the Filmmaker Award. This is dedicated to personalities who have made particularly original contributions to contemporary cinema. The prize will be presented on September 9. This ceremony will be followed by the world premiere of the documentary, Palma, by Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow. The movie grew out of a 10-year association between these two chroniclers and Palma, and will trace his six-decade-long career, his life and his filmmaking process.

This major award consolidates the bond between the festival and Palma, who has presented seven of his movies on the Lido (the island off Venice where the festival takes place), the first time 40 years ago, with Sisters (1975). In the years that followed, he screened Blow Out (1981), The Untouchables (1987), Raising Cain (1992), Black Dahlia (2006), Redacted (2007, which won the Silver Lion) and Passion (2012).





A still from Black-Dahlia.



Born in 1940, Palma studied film in New York. In 1963, he directed The Wedding Party, giving 20-year-old Robert De Niro his debut role. Carrie, a movie starring Sissy Spacek and based on the Stephen King novel, was his first big success.





A still from Passion.

To date, Palma has directed over 30 films, including The Untouchables with Robert De Niro, Kevin Costner and Sean Connery; Mission Impossible (1996) with Tom Cruise; and Scarface (1983) with Al Pacino.

Over the years, Palma has directed stars such as John Travolta, Melanie Griffith, Tom Hanks and Sean Penn.

He is particularly famous for his psychological thrillers, which feature his personal style, unusual camera angles and elements that often recall works by the directors who have influenced him, in particular Alfred Hitchcock.

The festival runs from September 2 to 12.

First Published: Aug 17, 2015 15:43 IST