Washington, Oct 1 (ANI): Tributes to Alfred Hitchcock marked the opening gala of the 10th annual Edit Filmmakers Festival in Frankfurt.

The festival honours were received by actress Tippi Hedren who played the lead role in Hitchcock's all time best thriller 'The Birds'.

Hessen president Roland Koch presented the award to Hedren, who received a deafening standing ovation.

"His work was genius and it changed my life. This award might go to the Smithsonian, which would be fantastic," she said.

Festival co-director Tom Atkin screened a tribute reel of Hitchcock's work, which included interviews with legends like Martin Landau and Shirley MacLaine.

"The thing that really separated Hitchcock from other filmmakers was his understanding of his audience," Variety quoted Atkin, as saying.

"He knew how to tease them, humour them, tantalize them, frighten them and always leave them wanting more," Atkin added.

Koch also announced that the German state's new 20 million euros film-funding program would include locations in the state of Baden-Wurttemberg.

"This way we offer locations from the Black Forest to Frankfurt's skyline," he said. (ANI)