The International Rome Film Festival will present American movie director Quentin Tarantino with a lifetime achievement award ahead of the European premiere of his Django Unchained, on 4 January.

The gala screening of Tarantino's much-anticipated homage to the "spaghetti western" genre is billed as a continuation of the Rome film festival, which took place in mid-November. The award will be presented by Rome's Oscar-winning film composer Ennio Morricone whose participation is fitting given his soundtracks for some of the best-known spaghetti western movies such as A Fistful of Dollars and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

Tarantino's movie has long been linked to the Rome film festival, whose new artistic director Marco Müller hinted in October that Django Unchained would play a role in the festival. However the movie was not finished in time to screen during the festival in November.

Tarantino's hugely popular neo-noir movies, such as Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, are often characterised by satirical subject matter and extreme violence. Django Unchained was inspired by Sergio Corbucci's 1966 spaghetti western Django and the film’s references to slavery as well as its alleged racism and "ultra-violence" provoked controversy following its launch in US cinemas on 25 December.

Django Unchained stars Jamie Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio and Samuel L. Jackson and is scheduled to open in most European countries, including Italy, between 16 and 18 January.