Spain’s San Sebastian International Film Festival made the controversial decision to honour Johnny Depp with its Donostia Award.
The lifetime achievement honour recognizes “outstanding contributions to the film world,” with the festival giving this year’s award to Depp despite a judge ruling last year that he assaulted his ex-wife Amber Heard on multiple occasions.
An article translated from Spanish called Depp “one of contemporary cinema’s most talented and versatile actors.”
Depp is set to receive his Donostia Award at the Kursaal Auditorium in San Sebastian on Wednesday, September 22.
👏 Johnny Depp to receive a Donostia Award at San Sebastian Festival’s 69th edition
The North American actor will collect @sansebastianfes' highest honorary award in recognition of his career on September 22
🌐 https://t.co/XLnxj2KwM5 pic.twitter.com/tSI3p7vzKt
— Donostia Zinemaldia – Festival de San Sebastián (@sansebastianfes) August 9, 2021
The actor follows in the footsteps of Viggo Mortensen, who was last year’s Donostia Award recipient.
Previous winners have also included Antonio Banderas, Meryl Streep, Anthony Hopkins and Glenn Close.
It was revealed Tuesday that Depp would also be honoured at the Czech Karlovy Vary Film Festival.
The festival, which runs August 20-28, will pay tribute to Depp’s “significant contributions to film.”
“We’re incredibly honoured to welcome to the Festival an icon of the contemporary cinema,” said Karlovy Vary’s executive director Krystof Mucha and the festival’s artistic director Karel Och in a statement, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“We’ve admired Mr. Depp for such a long time and are thrilled to bestow this honour on him.”
Depp’s awards come after a British court refused him permission to appeal a judge’s ruling that he assaulted Heard.
It was revealed in November that he’d lost his libel case against The Sun newspaper over an April 2018 article that labelled him a “wife beater.”
He continues to deny the assault allegations.
