The Donostia Award, a lifetime honour that recognizes “outstanding contributions to the film world” has been bestowed on Hollywood star Johnny Depp by Spain’s San Sebastian International Film Festival.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the news comes amid the ongoing controversy surrounding the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ actor, following his failed libel suit against British tabloid The Sun, which resulted in the courts upholding the paper’s description of him as a “wife-beater” and the ruling judge indicating that he believed Depp had assaulted ex-wife Amber Heard on multiple occasions.
Following the case of assaulting the ex-wife Amber, Warner Bros pulled the actor from the ‘Fantastic Beasts’ franchise by replacing him with Mads Mikkelsen in the character of the evil wizard Grindelwald. Despite this, San Sebastian presented Depp with the Donostia Award on Monday, describing him as “one of contemporary cinema’s most talented and versatile actors.”
On September 22, the 58-year-old actor will be honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award in San Sebastian. Reports by The Hollywood Reporter says that the festival’s announcement of the award has not mentioned the ongoing controversies of Depp. Rebordinos in his statement mentioned that, “The role of a film festival is not to judge the conduct of members of the film industry. The role of a film festival is to select the most relevant and interesting films of the year and to extend recognition to those who have made an extraordinary contribution to the art of film.” Further adding about the award he said, “The Donostia Award to Johnny Depp is our recognition of a great actor, a man of cinema with a great career, who visited us last year as producer of the film Crock of Gold: A Few Round With Shane Macgowan by Julien Temple, which won the Special Jury Prize.”
Viggo Mortensen won the Donostia Award the previous year and will be presenting his directorial debut, ‘Falling,’ in San Sebastian in 2020. San Sebastian established the Donostia Award in 1986, with Gregory Peck as the first recipient.
