Francis Ford Coppola Honors Werner Herzog at Venice with Golden Lion

At Sobey Road Entertainment, we believe the rarest stories deserve to be told with vision and care. Few filmmakers embody that ethos more than Werner Herzog, whose fearless explorations of truth, myth, and the human spirit have shaped cinema for generations.

This week at the Venice Film Festival, Herzog will receive the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, presented by Francis Ford Coppola. The honor recognizes a body of work that includes landmark films such as Fitzcarraldo, Grizzly Man, and Aguirre, the Wrath of God.

Herzog now returns to the natural world with Ghost Elephants, a new documentary that Sobey Road is proud to have collaborated on. The film will screen out of competition at Venice, followed by a masterclass led by Herzog.

Presented by La Biennale di Venezia since 1971, the Lifetime Achievement Golden Lion honors auteurs who have profoundly shaped film history. Past recipients include Orson Welles, Ingmar Bergman, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, David Lynch, Pedro Almodóvar, Tilda Swinton, Julie Andrews, Jane Fonda, and David Cronenberg — placing Herzog firmly among the icons of international cinema.