US actress Sigourney Weaver, who burst to fame as Ellen Ripley in the Alien saga, will be handed a lifetime achievement award at the Spanish-speaking world's leading film festival.

The Donostia award -- named after the Basque word for San Sebastian, north east Spain, where the international festival takes place -- has been given out each year since 1986 when it went to Gregory Peck.

Past recipients include Lauren Bacall, Al Pacino, Susan Sarandon, Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Richard Gere and Woody Allen.

Organisers announced Tuesday that Weaver would receive the award on September 21 at the European premiere of "A Monster Calls," a film in which she stars that will be screened at the festival but will not be competing for any awards.

The film, directed by Spain's Juan Antonio Bayona, is based on the children's novel of the same name by US author Patrick Ness.

It tells the story of Conor, a young boy who is repeatedly visited by a monster while his mother is dying from terminal cancer.

Weaver, 66, has worked with some of the film industry's most famous directors.

She burst to fame as Officer Ellen Ripley in Ridley Scott's 1979 blockbuster "Alien."

Since then, she has portrayed a variety of characters, from primatologist Dian Fossey in "Gorillas in the Mist" to New York City executive Katharine Parker in "Working Girl".

The San Sebastian film festival, which takes place this year in the Basque country from September 16 to 24, is the highest-profile film event in the Spanish-speaking world.

The festival was originally intended to honour Spanish language films but has established itself as one of the most important film festivals in the world.

It even hosted the world premiere of Alfred Hitchcock's spy thriller "North by Northwest" in 1959 and Woody Allen's "Melinda and Melinda" in 2004.

Weaver is no stranger to the festival, having already presented "Alien" there in 1979 and "A Map Of the World" in 1999.

Source: AFP