Exorcist director to get lifetime award

VENICE — William Friedkin, the United States film director who scared up a fright with The Exorcist and set pulses racing with the thriller The French Connection in the 1970s, will get a lifetime achievement award from the Venice Film Festival, organisers said on Thursday.

Friedkin (77) will also present a restored version of his initially poorly received, but now acclaimed 1977 film Sorcerer at the August 28 to September 7 festival in the Italian city.

Venice film festival director Alberto Barbera said that Friedkin had made major contributions to US cinema “the revolutionary impact of which has not always been recognised”.

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