Jacqueline Bisset to be Honored With Career Achievement Prize by Locarno Fest

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Jacqueline Bisset

The "Rich and Famous" actress will participate in the festival's ambitious retrospective of the work of "My Fair lady" director George Cukor.

ROME -- The Locarno Film Festival will present actress Jacqueline Bisset with a lifetime achievement honor ahead of the Piazza Grande screening of George Cukor’s drama Rich and Famous, which stars Bisset as one of two college roommates struggling to maintain their friendship after graduation.

The screening is part of the Cukor retrospective already announced for the August 7-17 festival. Rich and Famous, made in 1981, was the final film in Cukor’s 50-year career.

As part of its homage to the 68-year-old Bisset, the festival will also screen Under the Volcano, the 1984 pre-war thriller directed by John Huston. Bisset plays the ex-wife seeking to repair her relationship with the protagonist, played by Albert Finney.
Bisset will also participate in a discussion about her career with Locarno filmgoers.
“Jacqueline Bisset is not only an extraordinary actress by virtue of her performances in the roles she has played, but is also a cinema icon, combining grace with beauty, reminding us how effective nuance is in creating a character,” first-year Locarno artistic director Carlo Chatrian said in a statement.
Festival organizers said that actress Anna Karina will also attend the festival, where she will introduce another of Cukor’s films, the 1969 romantic drama Justine, where Karina played the title role.
The 66-year-old festival will screen Cukor’s entire body of work, including My Fair Lady, which won him an Oscar in 1965. The retrospective will include discussions on the impact of the director’s work from an array of expert filmmakers, actors, and critics.