MUMBAI: Italian director- screenwriter Francesco Rosi will receive the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 69th Venice International Film Festival scheduled to go underway from 29 August to 8 September.

Rosi, who will turn 90 on November 15th this year, will be given the award on August 31st, on the occasion of the screening of the restored copy of his masterpiece Il caso Mattei (The Mattei Affair, 1972), a restoration completed by Martin Scorsese‘s The Film Foundation.

Commented Rosi, "I am honoured and very happy to receive this extremely prestigious acknowledgment, which has been awarded in the past to many great authors whom I love and admire.

The director won the Golden Lion at the Venice International Film Festival in 1963 for his film Le mani sulla citt?(Hands over the City) and also won the Golden Lion at the Venice International Film Festival for Il caso Mattei (The Mattei Affair) in 1963.

Universal Pictures wants director-writer Richard Curtis to come up with a follow-up to hit 2003 romantic comedy Love Actually.

The film, which focused on different characters trying to find love, was a big hit at the box office and now Universal chief Eddie Cunningham is hoping to convince the film‘s writer to pen a sequel.

"I think there should be a Love Actually 2. I‘d give it a green light. I think many American movies try to emulate that brilliant format where the stories interweave and no one‘s on screen for more than six minutes, but only Richard has achieved it. It really makes you appreciate the beauty of his writing," Cunningham said.

Love Actually boasted an all-star cast, including Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Liam Neeson, Keira Knightley, Emma Thompson and Alan Rickman.