Pedro Almodóvar Receives Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at Venice Film Festival

The 76th Venice International Film Festival (August 28 – September 7, 2019) will award the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement to Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar. The announcement was made by festival director Alberto Barbera, who praised Almodóvar as the most influential Spanish director since Luis Buñuel, noting his ability to portray post-Franco Spain through themes of transgression, desire, and identity. Almodóvar expressed deep emotion and honor, recalling his international debut at Venice in 1983 with "L'indiscreto fascino del peccato" and his return in 1988 with "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown." His latest film, "Pain and Glory" (Dolor y Gloria), has received international acclaim. Almodóvar is credited with launching the careers of actors such as Antonio Banderas, Rossy de Palma, Penélope Cruz, and Miguel Bosé. His acclaimed works include "All About My Mother" (his masterpiece, according to the article), "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown," "Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!," "High Heels," and "Live Flesh." The article notes that Almodóvar once expressed a hope to become a classic rather than merely fashionable, a status he has now achieved.