Bernardo Bertolucci for honorary Cannes award

Acclaimed Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci is to receive the first annual 'Honorary Palme d'Or' award at this year's Cannes Film Festival.

While the prize has previously been handed out to filmmakers who had never won the Palme d'Or throughout their careers, Bertolucci's tribute will mark the beginning of a new annual tradition at the festival where honorary awards will be bestowed.

Bertolucci first gained notoriety in the 1960s with a series of films, including La commare secca and Before The Revolution, which questioned accepted norms in Italian society at the time.

The controversial Last Tango in Paris, starring Marlon Brando and Maria Schneider, brought Bertolucci to international prominence and earned him his first 'Best Director' Academy Award nomination in 1972.

The filmmaker would go on to take home the Oscar more than 15 years later for The Last Emperor. The critically acclaimed historical epic was the first motion picture to be granted permission to film inside China's Forbidden City.

Cannes's president Gilles Jacob will present the 'Honorary Palme d'Or' to Bertolucci on May 11 during the 64th annual festival's opening ceremony.

It has already been announced that Woody Allen's latest comedy Midnight In Paris will open this year's festivities and the jury will be headed by Robert De Niro, who Bertolucci directed in 1900.

Watch the trailer for Bernardo Bertolucci's Last Tango in Paris below: