After 300 motion picture scores and five Academy Award nominations, composer-conductor Ennio Morricone is about to receive an Honorary Oscar.

The statuette will be given to Morricone on Feb. 25 for his "magnificent and multifaceted contributions to the art of film music." During his 45-year career, he has been nominated for original score for "Days of Heaven," "The Mission," "The Untouchables," "Bugsy" and "Malena."

Born in Rome in 1928, Morricone was hired by Sergio Leone in 1964 and began a long collaboration with the director on spaghetti westerns. Still working today, Morricone's latest project is called "Leningrad" and is scheduled for a 2008 release.

"The board was responding not just to the remarkable number of scores that Mr. Morricone has produced but to the fact that so many of them are beloved and popular masterpieces," said Sid Ganis, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

In other Oscar news, Sherry Lansing will receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. Lansing, former chairman of Paramount Pictures Motion Picture Group, is being honored for her passionate work in fighting cancer and other charitable causes she's championed.

Return engagements

Pittsburgh Filmmakers has booked some classics and cult favorites for December and is bringing a movie from the Three Rivers Film Festival back for a two-day run.

Returning is "Requiem," a German film inspired by the same events that were turned into "The Exorcism of Emily Rose." It will play today and tomorrow at the Regent Square Theater, Edgewood.

"In the Pit" ("En el Hoyo"), a documentary about the process and people behind the construction of a massive highway in Mexico City, will screen through Sunday at the Melwood Screening Room.

A new print of "The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T" will play Sunday only at 3:30, 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. at the Regent Square Theater. Based on the only original screenplay Theodor Geisel ever wrote, it's a fantasy about a young boy who dreams his piano teacher (Hans Conried) is a mad scientist. All seats for this movie only, $5.