September 6, 2009 – Pixar Executives are Awarded the Honorary Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Film Festival
“Always on the lookout for that point at which the avant-garde…meets the blockbuster, Lasseter has not only contributed in a fundamental manner to bringing animation cinema to new heights as one of the great expressive forces of the new millennium, but has also become one of the symbols of the most precious, vital, and inventive tradition of great Hollywood cinema.” – Festival Director Marco Müller
On September 6, 2009, five executives from Pixar – John Lasseter, Brad Bird, Pete Docter, Andrew Stanton, and Lee Unkrich – were awarded the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy. This was the first time that a studio was celebrated for its accomplishments in film. The award was presented by longtime Pixar supporter and friend George Lucas, who congratulated the team as members of “my little backroom operation that started in 1979.” A few minutes of the then-unfinished Toy Story 3 was then screened at the festival.
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