Viola Davis to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award at Rome Film Fest

The Rome Film Fest is set to honor Oscar, Emmy, and Tony-winning actress Viola Davis with its second lifetime achievement award this year. Davis will also participate in one of the event’s “Close Encounter” talks, discussing her work with festival head Antonio Monda. 

“Viola Davis is an extraordinary actress, who has transformed sincerity and dignity into sublime thespian art,” Monda said Tuesday in a statement. “It is a great honor for me, and for the Rome Film Fest, to celebrate her formidable talent and deep humanity.”

Davis is a three-time Oscar nominee, taking home the prize for best supporting actress in 2017 for Fences. She also has won Tony Awards for her work in Fences and King Hedley II, and won the Emmy for outstanding lead actress in 2015 for her role as Annalise Keating on How to Get Away With Murder.

Davis will next appear as “Queen of the Blues” Ma Rainey in the screen adaptation of August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and in the upcoming Suicide Squad sequel.

Bill Murray has been previously announced as the other recipient of Rome’s lifetime achievement award.

The festival has also announced that its closing night film will be Tornare (Return) from Roman filmmaker Cristina Comencini. The pic explores grief through the eyes of its main character Alice, a 40-year old woman who returns from America to her home in Naples after her father’s death.

The 14th Rome Film Fest is set to run Oct. 17-27. The full lineup will be announced Friday.

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