Locarno Gives Lifetime Nod to HHH

Asian auteur Hou Hsiao-hsien will be honored at the 60^th Locarno Film Festival with the Golden Leopard; the equivalent to the Academy’s Lifetime Achievement Award in Tinsel town. The Taiwanese titan has depicted social changes in his native country with sometimes auto-bio pics. Organizers of the Swiss fest say the helmer is set to accept the honor at this year’s event, scheduled for August 1-11.

Hou's extensive portfolio includes 1989 Venice Lion winner A City of Sadness, 1993 Cannes jury prize winner The Puppet Master and, more recently Millennium Mambo, and Café Lumiere. He's currently handling post on Paris-set Juliette Binoche starrer Ballon Rouge (The Red Balloon). The pic follows a young boy and his babysitter who inhabit the same imaginary world and whose travels are followed by a mysterious red balloon.

Frederic Maire, head of the Locarno experience,  praised Hou for “his fundamental questioning of cinematic form and language, his unique and intriguing style, further refined with every film.”

Previous Locarno career Leopard recipients include Jean-Luc Godard, Bernardo Bertolucci, Ken Loach and, last year, Alexander Sokurov.