Actor Matt Dillon will be honored at Locarno Film Festival with the Lifetime Achievement Award, accompanied by screenings of Drugstore Cowboy (Gus Van Sant, 1989) and City of Ghosts Matt Dillon, 2002).

“Matt Dillon embodies with supreme freedom an idea of the American artist and cinema that we deeply love. The restlessness of youth and the freedom of maturity. A performer who has built lasting, transgenerational success without ever shying away from exploring new challenges and languages. An astounding actor and director, Dillon represents the best of an idea of American cinema born in the 1970s while celebrating the courage of unconventional choices. We are honored to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Locarno Film Festival with him.” – Giona A. Nazzaro, Artistic Director.

From his debut at the age of 14 in the cult classic Over the Edge (Jonathan Kaplan, 1979), Matt Dillon has been able to navigate numerous cinematic territories, thanks to encounters with the likes of Francis Ford Coppola – that gave us The Outsiders (1983), Rumble Fish (1983) –, to genre films that have become true cult classics – Wild Things (John McNaughton, 1998), There’s Something About Mary (Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly, 1998) –, up to forays into European auteur cinema – Lars von Trier’s The House That Jack Built (2018), Yorgos Lanthimos’ Nimic (2019).

The Lifetime Achievement Award was established in 2011. In past years it has been presented to film legends such as Harrison Ford (2011), Alain Delon (2012), Jacqueline Bisset (2013), Harvey Keitel (2016) and, in 2021, Dario Argento.