Stallone to be Awarded at Venice Film Festival

Sylvester Stallone will receive this year's Jaeger-LeCoultre Glory to the Filmmaker Award at the 66th Venice International Film Festival.

The Venice Film Festival begins next week in Venice, Italy.

The award, to be handed out at the end of festival on September 12, is given each year to someone who has left their mark on contemporary cinema.

On learning that he had been chosen for the prize this year, the actor-director-writer best known for his Rocky character said that ''to receive an award at the Venice festival is a dream I always hoped would come true''.

''Now that this has happened I can say that it was well worth the wait,'' the 63-year-old star added.

A statement issued by festival organizers said that in his films ''Stallone traveled through the light and the darkness of the American Dream and each of his films were remarkably anchored in its own present time''.

Stallone's cinema, above all his Rocky and Rambo series, ''is capable of tenderness even when dripping with blood,'' the statement added. ''And the way he has developed 'his' characters, even in his 'minor' films or those not directed by him, stands out for clarity and communicativeness,'' organized said.

The award ceremony will include a world premiere screening of scenes from the latest film Stallone has written, directed and starred in: The Expendables.

''It's a story of heroism and the price people pay to save others. It is a great mix of action and humor,'' Stallone explained.

The Venice Film Festival opens September 2 and the jury will be headed by filmmaker Ang Lee and include French actress Sandrine Bonnaire, Italian director Liliana Cavani, American moviemaker Joe Dante, Indian director Anurag Kashyap and Italian rocker and one-off filmmaker Luciano Ligabue.

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