Legendary actor/director Al Pacino has been named as the 2011 recipient of the Jaeger-Le Coultre Glory to the Filmmaker Award. The award is given annually to an artist who has left an original mark on contemporary cinema. Previous winners include Takeshi Kitano (2007), Abbas Kiarostami (2008), Agnès Varda (2008), Sylvester Stallone (2009) and Mani Ratnam (2010). The awards ceremony will take place on Sunday, September 4th during the 68th Venice International Film Festival. Festival Director Marco Mueller describes Pacino as, “An amazing director, whose experience is precious and original, and enriches the world of contemporary film.” Following the ceremony, the world premiere of Pacino’s third feature-length directorial picture, Wilde Salome will take place. The documentary invites audiences into Pacino’s private world, as he explores the complexities of Oscar Wilde’s acclaimed play Salome, Wilde himself and the birth of a rising star, in actress Jessica Chastain. “There is nowhere else I would rather debut Wilde Salome than at Venice, because of its rich artistic history. Wilde Salome is an exploration into the world of Oscar Wilde the artist and in ‘Salome,’ the emancipation of a work that lives on,” Pacino says. Pacino is also nominated for a 2011 Tony Award for his performance on Broadway in The Merchant of Venice. ~Alexandra Heilbron