George Lucas will receive the San Francisco Film Society's Irving'Bud' Levin Award, a one-time only honour that will be presented during the50th San Francisco International Film Festival on May 3 2007.

Named after San Francisco International Film Festival founder BudLevin, the award recognises Bay Area resident Lucas' 'deep appreciationfor movies as an art form.'

The Film Society's education programme will be the beneficiary ofthe gala black-tie fundraiser honouring Lucas as well as the as-yet-unannouncedrecipients of the Film Society Directing Award, the Peter J Owens Award forbrilliance in acting, and the Kanbar Award for excellence in screenwriting.

'Independent and visionary, George Lucas has createdcharacters, films and technologies that have gripped audiences and changed theface of film-making, distribution, and licensing,' San Francisco FilmSociety executive director Graham Leggat said.

'No-one is more deserving of the Levin Award for hisentrepreneurial acumen, love for the art of film and passion for community thanGeorge Lucas and we are honoured that he has accepted this award.'

Lucas' film-making credits include the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises, and THX 1138, among many others. He founded Lucasfilmand Industrial Light & Magic, serves as chairman of the board of the GeorgeLucas Educational Foundation and Film Foundation, and is a member of the USCSchool of Cinema-Television Advisory Board.

The 50th San Francisco International Film Festival is scheduled torun from Apr 26-May 10, 2007. For more details visit the official websiteat http://www.sffs.org.