Los Angeles, May 10 (IANS): French filmmaker Agnes Varda will receive an honorary Palme d’Or at the forthcoming 68th Cannes International Film Festival. She follows in the footsteps of Woody Allen (2002), Clint Eastwood (2009) and Bernardo Bertolucci (2011).

The award goes to renowned directors whose works have achieved global impact but who have never won the Cannes Festival’s Palme d’Or, the festival officials explained while announcing the honour on Saturday.

Varda will receive the honour at the Cannes fest’s closing ceremony on May 24, reports variety.com.

Varda has helmed more than 30 short, documentary and fiction films for both TV and cinema, as well staging many exhibitions of photographs and art installations.

Among her films are “Lions Love (… and Lies)” (1968); “Documenteur” (1981), which shot in Los Angeles when her life-partner Jacques Demy went to make “Model Shop” for Columbia; “One Sings the Other Doesn’t” (1976); and “Jacquot (De Nantes)” (1990), made in memory of Demy.

Among major awards, Varda won a Silver Bear in Berlin for “Happiness” (1965), a Golden Lion in Venice for “Vagabond” (1985), a European Film Award for “The Gleaners and I” (2000), and a French Cesar for documentary “The Beaches of Agnes” (2008).