20 February 2012 Last updated at 18:14 ET

Pacino honoured at Dublin film festival

Al Pacino was awarded the Volta Award for achievement in film

Hollywood actor Al Pacino has been honoured at a film festival in Dublin.

The screen icon was attending a screening of his new film Wilde Salome, his interpretation of the Oscar Wilde play Salome.

At the screening, part of the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival, Pacino was awarded the Volta Festival Tribute Award.

Irish President Michael D Higgins presented the award.

"It is a singular honour for me to present the Festival Tribute Award, a Volta Award, to one of the true icons of world cinema," he said.

"In a long and enduring career which has been marked by excellence and extensive variety, Al Pacino has performed all the major functions of the film genre in the roles of actor, director, screenwriter and producer.

"The winner of a slew of awards - including an Academy Award for Best Actor for the 1992 film "Scent of a Woman", and the American Film Institute's prestigious Life Achievement Award in 2006 - Al Pacino has truly demonstrated an outstanding versatility which has entertained audiences throughout the globe."

Written by Wilde in 1891, Pacino first saw Salome on stage.

"I was surprised when I saw it because I didn't read the programme," he said.

"And I didn't know that Oscar Wilde had written it until it was over, and I wanted to know the playwright very much."

The film follows Pacino as he explores the world of Oscar Wilde and part of it was shot in Dublin.

"I'm very happy to be here. It's a great city, I love it," she said.

Wilde Salome is described as a an experimental documentary that journeys into the mind of a film icon, and his fascination for a piece of literature.