Leading Chinese director Zhang Yimou will receive the Liftime Achievement Award at the Hawaii International Film Festival opening Friday.

The award is a first for both the 25-year-old festival and for Zhang, with his decades of work as a director.

Chuck Boller, chairman of the festival, said in an earlier interview, "Zhang is one of the most prominent directors in the world. I hope the award will spur him onto making more good movies," Boller said.

Zhang, who arrived in Hawaii on Monday, expressed his happiness but was quick to distance himself from the assumption that a lifetime achievement award is usually given to a director too old for more achievements.

"My idol is Japanese cinema legend Akira Kurosawa, who continued making movies of high artistic value into his 90s."

Explaining his modus operandi, Zhang said, "Every director has his own artistic dream. But as far as my experience is concerned, art is not the only thing. A director should be responsible not only for his artistic dream, but for investors as well." Zhang added that a movie with miserable box-office revenue hampers the investment environment for the entire movie market.

(Shenzhen Daily October 21, 2005)