The Biennale has announcedthat Italian actress Stefania Sandrelli will receive a Golden Lion for LifetimeAchievement at the upcoming Venice Film Festival (Aug 31-Sept 10).

Festivaldirector Marco Mueller said: "A 45-year-old career in film, and she doesn'tshow it. Stefania Sandrelli has lived through all the various periods ofItalian cinema."

TheTuscan actress started out working with post-World War II luminaries PietroGermi and Antonio Pietrangeli, and later appeared in Bernardo Bertolucci's TheConformist. Most recently, shestarred in Gabriele Muccino's The Last Kiss.

Venicepreviously announced that it will also hand out a career Golden Lion to HayaoMiyazaki. The festival will pay tribute to the Japanese director by screeningsome of his films which have never been distributed in Italy or Europe.

Sandrelliwill receive her Golden Lion during the festival's closing ceremony, onSeptember 10.

TheBiennale has announced that the ceremony in the Palazzo del Cinema will behosted by Spanish model Ines Sastre.