VENICE, Italy, Sept. 3 (UPI) -- Chinese director John Woo earned the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement award Friday at the Venice Film Festival.
Woo, whose martial arts epic "Reign of Assassins" premiered at the festival, told Variety he considers himself a bridge between China and Hollywood.
"From now on I want to make more movies to bring together the good things from the West, and the good things from the East," he said.
"Reign of Assassins," shot in China and set during the Ming Dynasty, stars Michelle Yeoh as an assassin who falls in love with the son of a man killed by her gang. It is Woo's first film with a female protagonist.
The Weinstein Co. will release "Reign of Assassins" stateside.
"In China we had not had a film with a real female hero for a long, long time," Woo told Variety. "Some people think martial arts movies are about men and about their friendships. But I think this is changing."
Audiences today want movies, "even martial arts movies," that make them think and feel, said Woo, whose titles include "Mission Impossible II," "Face/Off" and "Hard Boiled."
