Business & Finance Club - Venice :  Veteran Hong Kong filmmaker John Woo accepted a Golden Lion for lifetime achievement at the Venice Film Festival, dedicating the honour to his ''dear mother''.

''When I was a younger man, when becoming a filmmaker was a crazy dream, I learnt that the impossible could become possible,'' said the 63-year-old Woo, who has known success in both Asia and Hollywood, the latter first taking notice when he created the The Killer in 1989.

''I dedicate this award to a person who first brought me into the cinema, and set a course for my life, who said 'If you set your mind to something then you should do it', and that's my dear mother.''

His new film, Reign of Assassins, premiered at the festival on Friday.

Festival director Marco Mueller, flanking Woo at a news conference on Friday, said his works offered ''the perfect union of Chinese tradition and avant-garde films''.

Woo, who recently returned to China after 16 years in Hollywood, directing John Travolta in Broken Arrow and Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible 2, said: ''I am starting a new chapter with new dreams.''