MUMBAI: The Venice Film Festival will honour Hong Kong director John Woo with the prestigious Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement this year.

Woo will be presented the prize on 3 September in the festival. It will also hold the world premiere of Woo‘s latest thrilled Jianyu (Reign of Assassins).

A day earlier, on 2 September, the festival will screen a newly restored version of Woo‘s 1989 masterpiece Dip huet seung hung (The Killer) and the Korean-made remake of Woo‘s 1986 classic Ying hung boon sik (A Better Tomorrow).

"When watching one of his films, you have to forget about judging the quality of the written page -- the stylized sets and the shots have contradicted it and burned it forever," Venice artistic director Marco Mueller said in a statement.

"Woo is not interested in the translation of a sequence into images or the mere description of an action: he is interested in the rhythm and the cadences, searching for the exact syllable on which the accent falls in order to render the lyricism," Mueller added.

This year‘s 67th edition of the Venice Film Festival takes place from 1 to 11 September.