Oscar-winning actress Ellen Burstyn (Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, The Exorcist) will be honored at this year’s Venice Film Festival with a Golden Lion for lifetime achievement.
Burstyn will attend the 83rd Venice Festival and receive her award at the screening of Flesh Impact, a new short film from director Maggie Gyllenhaal (The Bride!) which stars Burstyn alongside Dakota Johnson, Peter Sarsgaard, and Sepideh Moafi.
“Wow! I not only get to travel to one of my top most favorite cities in the whole world. I get to return home carrying a Golden Lion in my arms!,” Burstyn said in a statement. “I feel so honored— so happy — so filled with gratitude! Wow indeed!”
Calling the 93-year-old Burstyn an actress “of rare intensity and truth,” Venice’s artistic director Alberto Barbera paid tribute to her long and enduring career. Burstyn has been a presence in American cinema for more than fifty years, he said, “bringing depth and complexity to unforgettable female characters embodying the contradictions and transformations in the contemporary woman.”
Barbera highlighted Burstyn’s most famous performances, including her Academy Award-nominated turns in Peter Bogdanovich’s The Last Picture Show (1971), William Friedkin’s The Exorcist (1973), Martin Scorsese‘s Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974) — the film that won her the Best Actress Oscar — and Darren Aronofsky’s Requiem for a Dream (2000), as well as her lesser-known work with indie auteurs.
“Over the years she worked with some of the most important film directors of the time: Alain Resnais in Providence, Paul Schrader in Hardcore, Bob Rafelson in The King of Marvin Gardens, Paul Mazursky in Alex in Wonderland and Harry and Tonto,” he said, also name-checking her collaboration with Christopher Nolan on Interstellar (2014).
“Her artistry, which could illuminate pain and everyday resilience with dignity, irony and courage, remains an absolute model of authenticity in performance and civic engagement within the craft of acting,” he said.
In total, Burstyn has received six Oscar nominations, five for Best Actress. She’s also an Emmy, Tony, BAFTA and Golden Globe winner. The octogenarian actress remains active. She recently re-teamed with Pieces of a Woman (2020) director Kornél Mundruczó for his upcoming drama Place to Be.
The 83rd Venice International Film Festival runs Sept. 2-12. The festival will unveil its full 2026 lineup on July 23.
