Festival director Marco Muller who labels Burton, 48, “a cinematic genius” says the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory director is “more insolently pop than most of the contemporary new directors, and less eager for approval than most of the older ones, there is not a bankable Hollywood director with a flintier sense of cinema than him.”

Burton presented two of his acclaimed animated films, The Nightmare Before Christmas and the Corpse Bride, at the Venice Film Festival in previous years. The festival’s 64th edition is being held in Venice from August 29th through September 8th.