Asteroid City and The Grand Budapest Hotel writer-director Wes Anderson is to be honored at the Venice Film Festival on Sept. 1.
The film stars Ralph Fiennes, Benedict Cumberbatch, Dev Patel, Ben Kingsley and Richard Ayoade.
"Wes Anderson is one of the few directors whose unique and unmistakable style can be recognized with just one frame. His formal universe harks back to a childlike and visionary aesthetic, dominated by pastel colors and obsessive care in preparing strictly symmetrical sequences populated by misfit dreamers who are incurably romantic and cheerful," the festival's director said in a statement Monday.
"From the memorable and poignant soundtracks (often inspired by the 1960s) to the extravagant costumes that reflect the characters' psyche, each detail and the composition of every single shot is painstakingly conceived and masterfully carried out. The worlds the director creates are plausible and yet completely imaginary and fictitious, buttressed by surreal humor and a disconcerting taste for the vicissitudes of maladjusted families, absent fathers and imperturbable mothers. Eccentric and highly idiomatic cinema that is always perfectly entertaining and enjoyable."
Anderson's other films include Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Darjeeling Limited and Isle of Dogs.
