MUMBAI:The organizers of the 64th edition of the Cannes Film Festival 2011 has decide to honour Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci by awarding him with a Honorary Palme d’or. The award will be handed over to him at the opening ceremony of the festival.

This award comes in recognition of Bertolucci’s work ranging from Prima della Revoluzione (1964) to Novecento (1976), from The Conformist (1970) to The Last Emperor (1987). 

“The quality of his work, which appears today in all its uniqueness and the extent of this work we perceive every day more vividly, the strength of his commitment to cinema and the ties that bind him to Cannes, make Bernaldo Bertollucci the first legitimate recipient.” said President Gilles Jacob and Thierry Fremaux General Delegate.

Similar awards were handed over to Woody Allen in 2002 and Clint Eastwood in 2009 on behalf of the Board of Directors of the Festival de Cannes.