Michael Apted to Get Lifetime Achievement Honor at Dubai Film Festival

3:13 AM PST 12/4/2012 by Stuart Kemp

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Max Nash/AFP/Getty Images

Egyptian actor Mahmoud Abdel Aziz will also be feted in a ceremony ahead of the opening gala for "Life Of Pi."

LONDON – British director Michael Apted and Egyptian actor Mahmoud Abdel Aziz will be feted with lifetime achievement awards during this year's Dubai International Film Festival.

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The duo are scheduled to pick up the honorary nods at a presentation ahead of the opening night gala screening of Oscar winner Ang Lee's Life of Pi.

Apted will also take part in an "in conversation with" event during the Middle Eastern festival.

"Both men have made commendable contributions to the world of cinema and inspired countless people through their body of work," said DIFF chairman Abdulhamid Juma.

"The Lifetime Achievement Award is an opportunity to savor and truly commend an eminent career. It is not about the latest blockbuster or the most-hyped director of the year, but recognizes continuous, applied determination and consistent, creative output which push the boundaries of the industry."

Apted has worked across TV, movies and documentaries with his resume boasting his famed U.K. doc Up, a project started in 1964 with a group of seven-year-olds which revisits the group every seven years. The latest installment, released in 2012, was directed by Apted himself.

Apted's movie duties include The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, James Bond installment The World is Not Enough and Gorillas in the Mist.

Aziz rose to stardom in the Egypt in the 1970's and has appeared in a slew of movies including 1982's Al Ar (Shame).

Aziz's television efforts span a starring role as the eponymous spy in Raafat El Haggan to his latest venture, Bab el Khalq, which screened this year.

Previous Lifetime Achievement honoree’s at DIFF include Omar Sharif, Morgan Freeman, Sean Penn, Amitabh Bachchan, Rachid Bouchareb, Souleymane Cisse, Oliver Stone, Danny Glover, Terry Gilliam, Yash Chopra and Subhash Ghai.