BEIJING, Sept. 9 -- Enigmatic U.S. director David Lynch presented his first movie in five years Wednesday at the Venice Film Festival. The 60-year-old is the youngest recipient of a Golden Lion for lifetime achievement.

U.S. director David Lynch shows the Golden Lion lifetime achievement award received at the 63rd edition of the Venice film festival in Venice, Italy, Wednesday Sept. 6, 2006.  (Photo: Yahoo.com) Photo Gallery >>>

    "I'm really honored to get this award. It's strange. Just yesterday, I was 19 and now I'm getting this award today," he told a packed news conference.

    Five years after his 2001 movie, "Mulholland Drive," Lynch returns to taunting his audience with a diabolical three-hour puzzle entitled "Inland Empire."

    Lynch's dark tale is a movie within a movie in which he takes viewers through the nightmarish labyrinth of the inner life of a Hollywood actress, played by Laura Dern, who co-produced the film.

    "Every film is like going into a new world, going into the unknown. But you should not be afraid of using your intuition, and feel and think your way through," said the director.

    "Cinema is such a beautiful language. It is the thing that deals with things beyond words, and it's so beautiful. So to go with cinema is like going with music, your intellect travels along with it, it's so fantastic. Go in and have an experience in a different world."

    Jeremy Irons, Justin Theroux and Harry Dean Stanton star in the movie, which features the voice of Naomi Watts. Lynch writes and performs one of the songs on the sound track.

    The director shot to international fame 15 years ago with the hit TV series "Twin Peaks."

    (Source: Shenzhen Daily/Agencies)