Film festival glory for Takeshi Kitano

A new Venice Film Festival award was presented to Japanese film director Takeshi Kitano on August 30. The "Glory to the Filmmaker Award" was created for Kitano and, in future, will be presented to directors in expectation of their future achievements. Kitano's acceptance of the 2007 inaugural award was greeted by a standing ovation from his peers. It was at the 1997 Venice Film Festival that Kitano received the prestigious Golden Lion Award for his film HANA-BI, cementing his status as an internationally renowned film director. In 2003, Kitano was again awarded with the film festival's Silver Lion.