Some wonderful news coming out of Italy.
Peter Weir, 80, the Australian director behind “Picnic at Hanging Rock,” “The Year of Living Dangerously,” “Witness,” “Dead Poets Society,” “The Truman Show,” and “Master and Commander,” will be receiving this year’s honorary Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.
The seven-time Oscar nominee hasn’t made a film since 2010’s “The Way Back,” and he recently confirmed that he’s in fact retired from filmmaking. Weir was the guest of honor at this past spring’s Festival de la Cinémathèque in Paris, where he was inevitably asked about his 14 year absence in cinema:
I am retired. Why did I stop cinema? Because, quite simply, I have no more energy.
“With a total of only 13 movies directed over the course of 40 years, Peter Weir has secured a place in the firmament of the great directors of modern cinema,” said Alberto Barbera, the artistic director of the Venice Film Festival, in an official statement.