02/08/2002 - Venice Biennale bestows this year’s Lifetime Achievement on Dino Risi, the King of Italian comedy

“Both an honour and the most pleasant of obligations” is how Moritz De Hadeln confirmed that the recipient of this year’s career Golden Lion is Dino Risi. The new festival director was speaking at the 30 July press conference in Rome. “Beneath the cynicism and apparent hedonism of this comedies, Risi emphasised a profoundly radicated social disenchantment and a state of moral tension. Despite his films having always been well-received by audiences, the critics underestimated his work: mistaking social commitment and censoring the obvious comedy.”
Risi, 90, directed unforgettable films like Una vita difficile, La marcia su Roma, Il Gaucho and Profumo di donna and Venice 59 will honour him by screening his epoch-making Il sorpasso.

(Translated from French)