George Clooney, 65, received the Golden Lion for lifetime achievement at the opening gala of the 83rd Venice Film Festival on 2026-09-02. ^[1] George Clooney said in his acceptance speech at the Venice Film Festival on 2026-09-02 that films foster empathy and challenge authoritarian thinking, and that stories are dangerous for people who act with fear. ^[2] Laura Dern, in her laudatio for George Clooney at the Venice Film Festival opening on 2026-09-02, called him an outstanding filmmaker and activist and quoted Brad Pitt as saying Clooney ages like an old Gouda cheese. ^[3] The 83rd Venice Film Festival opened on 2026-09-02 with Danny Boyle's film 'Ink', which depicts how Rupert Murdoch and Larry Lamb reinvented the British tabloid The Sun in the late 1960s. ^[4] Clooney expressed concern that the richest people in the world now own major information outlets like the Washington Post and Twitter. ^[5] Clooney stated that artificial intelligence poses a threat to the idea of truth by poisoning the well of perception. ^[6] Clooney defended his colleague Mark Ruffalo's ability to speak freely and expressed support for his work. ^[7]