Last year, Skolimowski’s film 11 Minutes was presented in the main competition of the Venice Film Festival. The film went on to be selected as the Polish candidate to the 2015 Oscars in the foreign film category. This year, Skolimowski will return to Venice to receive the Golden Lion, awarded for the entirety of his work in film. Upon receiving news of the honour, Skolimowski spoke to the Polish Film Institute:
One of the first people to have ever received this exceptional award was my favourite director, Orson Welles. The list of recipients includes an amazing collection of some of the most prominent filmmakers from around the world. I am extremely grateful to the Festival and director Alberto Barbera for the honour of being included in such reputable company.
Among the recipients of the Venice Golden Lion – awarded since 1969 – are Michelangelo Antonioni, Eric Rohmer, Martin Scorsese, and Andrzej Wajda. Of the honour, Skolimowski said:
I take this as encouragement to continue working and as a form of recognition for contemporary Polish cinema. I will do my best not to let this success go to my head.
The most famous films of Skolimowski – a director, writer, painter, and actor – include the surreal Barrier (1966), Identification Marks: None (1964), Hands Up! (1967), a filmic interpretation of the Witold Gombrowicz’s Ferdydurke (1991), Moonlighting (1982), Essential Killing (2010), and Four Nights with Anna (2008).