Globetrotting filmmaker Werner Herzog, an eclectic risk-taker whose monumental works often explore humankind’s conflict with nature, will receive a special award Wednesday at the Venice Film Festival.

The 82-year-old arthouse giant, who helped launch New German Cinema in the 1960s, will receive the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement as his latest documentary, “Ghost Elephants,” about a lost herd in Angola, debuts at the festival.

The award will be presented at the opening ceremony by legendary director Francis Ford Coppola.

Herzog has made more than 70 movies, rising to fame in the 1970s and 80s with sweeping films about obsessive megalomaniacs and struggles with the natural world.

The German director and daredevil explorer has made a series of documentaries in recent years, many in

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