Sean Penn to attend Zurich Film Festival
The American actor and director Sean Penn is to receive the Golden Icon prize at the Zurich Film Festival.
The two-time Oscar winner will receive the prize for his life’s work on September 28, organisers said on Friday.
“Sean Penn is one of the most impressive film actors of our time. We are extremely pleased and feel very honoured that such an important artist has accepted our invitation to the Zurich Film Festival,” said festival head Karl Spoerri in a statement.
Penn will also be the subject of a retrospective at the festival, which runs from September 22- October 2.
The 51-year-old won his first Oscar for Best Actor in 2003 for Mystic River and a second one in 2008 for Milk. He is also known for his political and social activism, most notably his criticism of George W. Bush, and his humanitarian work in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the 2010 Haiti earthquake.
In 2009 the festival was at a centre of a media storm after Franco-Polish director Roman Polanski, who was due to receive a tribute award, was arrested at Zurich airport in connection with a 1977 child rape case in the United States. Switzerland later decided not to extradite him.
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