US actress Kim Novak will receive the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival (La Biennale di Venezia), running 27 August to 6 September 2025. The award will coincide with the Venice world premiere of Kim Novak’s Vertigo, the new feature doc by writer-director Alexandre O. Philippe. The film is sold by Dogwoof who boarded the project at Cannes 2025.
Kim Novak’s Vertigo is Philippe’s third selection at Venice after Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on The Exorcist(2019) and the 2024 Venice Classics Lion winner Chain Reactions. Philippe has directed numerous acclaimed titles, including 78/52 (Sundance 2017), Memory: The Origins of Alien (Sundance 2019), and Lynch/Oz(Tribeca 2022).
The Lifetime Achievement award was approved by the Board of Directors of La Biennale, following the recommendation of Festival Artistic Director Alberto Barbera, Dogwoof writes in a press release dated June 9.
Kim Novak, in accepting the offer, commented: “I am deeply, deeply touched to receive the prestigious Golden Lion Award from such an enormously respected film festival. To be recognised for my body of work at this time in my life is a dream come true. I will treasure every moment I spend in Venice. It will fill my heart with joy.”
Kim Novak’s Vertigo is described as “an intimate portrait of a fiercely independent Hollywood star who left it all behind to live life on her own terms, revealing a haunting, resilient journey of art, identity and authenticity in the shadow of one of cinema’s most iconic roles.”
“Blending rare archival footage with deeply personal reflections and vivid glimpses into her reclusive life along Oregon’s wild Rogue River, the film traces her extraordinary path—from mid-century icon to fiercely private artist,” the synopsis continues. “While Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo remains her most iconic role, the film explores how that performance—and the duality it captured—mirrors the ongoing tension between image and identity that shaped Kim’s life.”
