WEEK IN WOMEN: Ellen Burstyn receives Golden Lion at Venice Film Fest – Brandy McDonnell reports
Oscar-winning actress Ellen Burstyn will be awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival, set to take place September 2-12.
The Golden Lion will be awarded to Burstyn in conjunction with the festival’s screening of Maggie Gyllenhaal’s short film Flesh Impact. Dedicated to Marilyn Monroe on the centenary of her birth, the film features yet another extraordinary performance by the actress. The film’s cast also includes Dakota Johnson, Peter Sarsgaard, and Sepideh Moafi.
Johnson portrays Monroe at the height of her fame, while Burstyn stars as a version of Marilyn the world never got the chance to see. Flesh Impact takes its title from a phrase once used to describe Monroe’s aura – that she looked so real and luminous on camera that viewers felt they could touch her through the screen.
“An actress of rare intensity and truth, Ellen Burstyn has been a presence in American cinema for over 50 years, bringing depth and complexity to unforgettable female characters embodying the contradictions and transformations in the contemporary woman,” said Venice International Film Festival Artistic Director Alberto Barbera in a statement.
”Wow! I not only get to travel to one of my top most favorite cities in the whole world. I get to return home carrying a Golden Lion in my arms! The Lifetime Achievement Award from the Venice Film Festival! I feel so honored— so happy — so filled with gratitude! Wow indeed!” Burstyn said in a statement.
“Revealed in Peter Bogdanovich’s The Last Picture Show, which portrayed the twilight of small-town America, and elevated to global stardom by the success of William Friedkin’s The Exorcist, Burstyn won the Oscar for Best Actress for Martin Scorsese’s Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, the film manifesto about women reclaiming their identity and their freedom.”
Burstyn’s illustrious 60-year acting career encompasses film, stage and television. In 1975, she became the third woman in history to win both a Tony Award and an Academy Award in the same year for her work in Same Time, Next Year on Broadway and in the film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, for which she also received a Golden Globe nomination and a British Academy Award for Best Actress. Continue reading on THE WEEK IN WOMEN
