MADRID, April 25 (Xinhua) -- The American film director Martin Scorsese was named on Wednesday as the winner of the 2018 Princess of Asturias Award for the Arts.

Scorsese is the first eight prize winners to be named for the 38th edition of the Awards, which seek to "contribute to extolling and promoting those scientific, cultural and humanistic values that form part of the universal heritage of humanity".

There are seven other categories in the Princess of Asturias Awards which are; Communications and Humanities, International Cooperation, Sports, Literature, Social Sciences, Concord and Technical and Scientific Research, with the winners of these Awards to be announced over the coming weeks.

The Awards, which are the most important annual prizes given in Spain, are presented in a gala ceremony in the city of Oviedo (northern Spain) every October.

The Awards are one of the cultural events of the year in Spain, with the ceremony attended by King Felipe VI, Queen Letizia and the Infanta Leonor -- the Princess of Asturias and the heir to the Spanish throne.

Scorsese, at 75, is responsible for directing such emblematic films as Taxi Driver, Goodfellas' "Casino", Gangs of New York, Raging Bull and the Departed, which won Scorsese an Oscar as "Best Director".

He was chosen ahead of 35 candidates from 21 different countries. Jury said he was an "indisputable figure in contemporary filmmaking", and was "one of the most outstanding film directors of the movement to renew filmmaking that emerged in the 1970s".

"He has directed more than twenty films that now form part of the history of cinema and continues to work unceasingly, masterfully combining innovation and classicism in his films," wrote the jury. Enditem

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