Washington, DC [US], September 1 : Actor and film director Sean Penn is set to be the guest of honour at this year's Lumiere Festival, an event dedicated to heritage cinema, according to Variety.
It is headed by Thierry Fremaux, director of the Institut Lumiere, the Lumiere Film Festival, and the Cannes Film Festival.
Hosted in the city of Lyon, the birthplace of the Lumiere brothers, the festival celebrates classic films and honours iconic directors and actors every year.
Penn will present his 2007 film 'Into the Wild', which earned two Oscar nominations in 2008. The film, "inspired by the true story of Christopher McCandles, stars Emile Hirsch as a college graduate from an affluent upbringing who decides to abandon his privileged life and venture into Alaska," as per the outlet.
The Lumiere Festival described 'Into the Wild' as a "major film about freedom and the vastness of America." "An instant classic of the 2000s, of total beauty," reported Variety.
Penn made his directorial film debut with the crime drama The Indian Runner (1991), followed by The Crossing Guard (1995), The Pledge (2001), and Into the Wild (2007). On stage, he acted in the Broadway plays Heartland (1981) and Slab Boys (1983). On television, he portrayed an astronaut in the Hulu drama series The First (2018) and John N. Mitchell in the Starz political thriller miniseries Gaslit (2022).
He will next be seen in Paul Thomas Anderson's 'One Battle After Another', in which he stars opposite Leonardo DiCaprio and Benicio Del Toro. Penn was also an executive producer on 'Worlds of War', James Strong's thriller based on the true story of world-renowned journalist and human rights activist Anna Politkovskaya, according to Variety.
Lumiere honorees from the past include Clint Eastwood, Martin Scorsese, Jane Fonda, Francis Ford Coppola, Quentin Tarantino, and Tim Burton, alongside European stars, such as Isabelle Huppert and Catherine Deneuve.
The 17th edition of the Lumiere Festival will take place from October 11 to 19, according to Variety.
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