Martin Scorsese received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in 1995. The Venice Film Festival presented him with its Career Golden Lion, an honorary recognition of his contribution to cinema rather than an award for a single competing film.
By that time, Scorsese had already established a major body of work including Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, The King of Comedy, Goodfellas, and The Age of Innocence. The 1995 honor recognized his influence as a director, screenwriter, film historian, and champion of film preservation.
The wording can cause a small terminology mix-up: Venice has awarded both competitive Golden Lions for films and honorary career awards often described as the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement or Career Golden Lion. Scorsese’s 1995 recognition was the honorary career award. It should also not be confused with his later Academy Award for Best Director, which he won for The Departed in 2007, or his Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2010.