Matt Dillon will be honored with a lifetime achievement award at the The Locarno Film Festival on August 4 followed by an onstage chat on August 5. The Swiss festival will celebrate Dillon’s acting and directing career by showing a mini compilation of movies he has participated in, including Gus Van Sant’s Drugstore Cowboy (1989) and City of Ghosts (2003) in which Dillon served as a co-writer, co-director, and a cast member.

Locarno praised Dillon for his versatility and experimentation with various “cinematic territories” ranging from Jonathan Kaplan’s teen rebellion drama Over the Edge (1979) to Francis Ford Coppola’s The Outsiders (1983) and Rumble Fish (1983) to the iconic romantic comedy There’s Something About Mary (1998) to his recent short film Nimic (2019).

Additionally Dillon has acted in Singles (1992), Beautiful Girls (1996), and Crash (2004) — for which he received an Oscar nomination.

According to Locarno artistic director Giona A. Nazzaro,

Matt Dillon embodies with supreme freedom an idea of the American artist and cinema that we deeply love: The restlessness of youth and the freedom of maturity. A performer who has built lasting, transgenerational success without ever shying away from exploring new challenges and languages. An astounding actor and director, Dillon represents the best of an idea of American cinema born in the 1970s while celebrating the courage of unconventional choices.

The 75th Locarno Film Festival will take place between August 3 and August 13.