Catherine Deneuve to receive Venice Film Festival honor

By LINDSEY BAHR
AP Film Writer

The great French film star Catherine Deneuve will receive the Golden Lion for lifetime achievement at the 79th Venice International Film Festival in September. Organizers announced the honor Wednesday. Deneuve, now 78, was a key figure in the French New Wave thanks to collaborations with directors like Jacques Demy, Luis Buñuel and François Truffaut. She won the festival’s Golden Lion in 1967 for her performance as a housewife who begins working at a high-end brothel during the day in Buñuel’s “Belle de Jour.” “American Gigolo” writer-director Paul Schrader is also being honored this year. The 79th edition of the Venice Film Festival runs from Aug. 31 through Sept. 10 in Italy.