The Golden Lion of the Venice Film Festival goes to the abortion drama “L’événement” by the French director Audrey Diwan. The jury announced this on Saturday evening. The work tells of a young woman who wanted to have an abortion in France in the early 1960s – at the time still illegal. It is the sixth Golden Lion in the history of the festival to be awarded to the work of a filmmaker. A woman also won last year: Chloé Zhao with “Nomadland”.
The jury’s grand prize, the festival’s second most important award, went to “È stata la mano di Dio (The Hand of God)”. In it, the Italian Paolo Sorrentino remembers his youth in Naples. The New Zealander Jane Campion, who had once celebrated worldwide success with “Das Piano”, accepted the award for best director for the brother drama “The Power of the Dog”. The jury honored the Spaniard Penélope Cruz as the best actress for “Madres paralelas”. In the drama by Pedro Almodóvar The 47-year-old Oscar winner plays one of two mothers who become pregnant unplanned. “Madres paralelas” also opened the 78th Venice Film Festival on September 1st.
Best Screenplay: Maggie Gyllenhaal for “The Lost Daughter”
The award for best actor went to John Arcilla for the Filipino corruption drama “On the Job: The Missing 8” by Erik Matti. The US actress Maggie Gyllenhaal won the award for best screenplay for “The Lost Daughter”. The drama is also her directorial debut. The Italian cave explorer film “Il buco” by Michelangelo Frammartino was awarded the special prize of the jury.
The Venice Film Festival is the oldest in the world. In this year’s competition, 21 works competed for the prizes. The awards were presented by an international jury. Its chairman was the South Korean director and Oscar winner Bong Joon Ho (“Parasite”).