The European Film Academy is to Bernardo Bertolucci with the Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his unique and dedicated contribution to the world of film.

The award will be presented in Malta during the the 25th European Film Awards Ceremony on December 1.

Bertolucci began his career as an assistant director to Pier Paolo Pasolini on Accattone and directed his first feature film at the age of 21. His second film, Before the Revolution(1964), was released to great acclaim and he has never since then stopped to shape the way we look at cinema.

His 1970 film The Conformist with Jean-Louis Trintignant and Stefania Sandrelli premiered in Berlin, won the Italian David di Donatello for Best Film and received Bertolucci's first Oscar nomination and his 1972 filmLast Tango in Paris with Marlon Brando, Maria Schneider and Jean-Pierre Léaud received another two Oscar nominations.

His fame increased with the epic 1900 (1976) with Robert de Niro, Gérard Depardieu and Burt Lancaster and The Last Emperor (1987) which won a total of nine Oscars, three BAFTA Awards, the French César, nine David di Donatello awards, and a special jury award at the inaugural European Film Awards in 1988. Among his later films are The Sheltering Sky (1990) with Debra Winger and John Malkovich and The Dreamers (2003) which was nominated for the EFA Audience Award and the Spanish Goya.

Bernardo Bertolucci's latest film Me and You (2012) premiered in the official selection, out of competition, at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.

Bernardo Bertolucci will be an honorary guest at the 25th European Film Awards Ceremony on 1 December 2012 in Malta.