Oscars Academy honours Spanish film-maker Pedro Almodovar

LONDON (AP) - Iconoclastic director Pedro Almodovar was hailed by Hollywood on Thursday at an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences retrospective in London.

The Spanish film-maker received tributes from colleagues and admirers, including fashion designer Jean-Paul Gaultier, screenwriter Peter Morgan and fellow director Stephen Frears - who praised Almodovar's "transgressive, inventive" spirit.

Quentin Tarantino, in a video message, said Almodovar was the contemporary director he admired most.

Almodovar is part of a creative generation that emerged after Spain ended decades of dictatorship in the late 1970s. His quirky and sometimes outrageous films helped launch the careers of Penelope Cruz, Antonio Banderas and Javier Bardem.