Ingmar Bergman was honored Monday for his work in preserving and restoring aging color films.
The legendary Swedish director, whose "Fanny and Alexander" won the Oscar for best foreign-language film in 1984, received the Film Preservation Award from the Brussels-based International Federation of Film Archives.
The ceremony took place at the Swedish Film Institute in the capital, Stockholm.
"Now, when I have received this prize, I feel that even I belong to this passionate union," the 84-year-old Bergman said after receiving the award.
The prize has been awarded previously to director Martin Scorsese in 2001 and Portuguese filmmaker Manoel de Oliveira in 2002.
Bergman made some 60 films before retiring from the industry. He's still active in Sweden with stage productions and occasional television shows.
He first gained international attention with 1955's "Smiles of a Summer Night," a romantic comedy that inspired the Stephen Sondheim musical "A Little Night Music."
But it was "The Seventh Seal," released two years later, that riveted critics and audiences. An allegorical tale of the medieval plague years, it contains one of cinema's most famous scenes — a knight playing chess with the shrouded figure of Death.
Founded in 1938, FIAF has grown from four members to 120 in 65 countries. The non-profit's goal is to collect and preserve aging color films.