Lee’s new Michael Jackson documentary Bad 25, will get its world premiere after the award is conferred on August 31.

Spike Lee has will receive the Jaeger-LeCoultre Glory to the Filmmaker 2012 award of the Venice International Film Festival.

The award is dedicated to “a personality who has brought great innovation to contemporary cinema.”

Lee’s new Michael Jackson documentary Bad 25 will get its world premiere after the award is conferred on August 31.

Festival director Alberto Barbera said: “Spike Lee is a bold creative spirit, the author of daring and corrosive films, often unpredictable and provocative in the best sense of the term. Films that challenge us to rethink our prejudices and our preconceptions.”

Spike Lee has participated in eight previous editions of the festival and in competition twice.

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