German director to receive Leopard of Honour at the upcoming 66th Locarno Film Festival.

German director Werner Herzog is to receive the Locarno Film Festival’s Leopard of Honour (the Pardo d’onore Swisscom) at the 2013 edition of the festival, which runs Aug 7-17.

The annual award is given to a contemporary director for his outstanding body of work.

Herzog will attend the festival, where he is expected to take part in a conversation with Grazia Paganelli, co-author of a book on the film-maker.

Ten of Herzog’s films will be screened during the festival:

  • Even Dwarves Started Small
  • Aguirre Wrath of God
  • The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser
  • Nosferatu the Vampyre
  • Fitzcarraldo
  • Where the Green Ants Dream
  • The White Diamond
  • Grizzly Man
  • The Wild Blue Yonder
  • My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done.

Carlo Chatrian, artistic director of the festival, said he was “delighted to be able to welcome to Locarno a filmmaker who embodies the spirit of the Festival so well”.

He added: “Herzog has proved adept at moving between fiction and documentary, low-budget productions and films featuring major stars but without ever losing a clear sense of identity. If awards are not only recognitions but also a way of signaling the future, I think that Werner Herzog is the most appropriate person to signpost the way forward the Festival wishes to take.”

Previous recipients of the award include Bernardo Bertolucci, Ken Loach, Paul Verhoeven and, in 2012, French director Leos Carax.

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