News from Italy
Venice Film Festival 2024, Golden Lion to Almodovar
Venice crowns Pedro Almodóvar. The Golden Lion of the 81st Venice Film Festival goes to “The Room Next Door”, the first English-language film by the Spanish master. Silver Lion for best director for The Brutalist by Brady Corbet. Maura Delpero’s film wins the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize among Italians. Nicole Kidman and Vincent Lindon are the best actors.
The oldest film festival in the world, which began on August 28 on the Lido peninsula of Venice, ended this evening with the awards ceremony. The maximum recognition was awarded by the Venezia 81 Jury, chaired by Isabelle Huppert and composed of James Gray, Andrew Haigh, Agnieszka Holland, Kleber Mendonça Filho, Abderrahmane Sissako, Giuseppe Tornatore, Julia von Heinz and Zhang Ziyi who evaluated the 21 films.
The first prize awarded to the festival’s best film, the “Golden Lion”, went to the movie “The Room Next Door”, directed by the Spanish director Almodovar. It stars Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore and tells the story of two friends, one of whom is terminally ill and decides to practice euthanasia.
Brady Corbet won the Silver Lion for best director for The Brutalist.
The women’s Volpi Cup winner is Nicole Kidman for the film Babygirl by Halina Reijn (United States), who was absent from the awards ceremony due to her mother’s death. The Volpi Cup for best male performance at Venice 81 was won by Vincent Lindon for the film The Quiet Son (Jouer avec le feu) by Delphine Coulin and Muriel Coulin (France).
Best screenplay: Ainda Estou Aqui by Walter Salles. Special jury prize for April by Dea Kulumbegashvili. Paul Kircher received the Marcello Mastroianni Young Actor Prize.
Maura Delpero’s film won the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize among Italians. This is the Italian director’s first time at the Venice Film Festival with a movie set in the icy mountains of Val di Sole during the Second World War.
After the red carpet, the awards ceremony, conducted by godmother Sveva Alviti, announced the winners of the 81st edition of the Venice International Film Festival.
Here are all the winners of Venezia 81:
Venice 2024 winners
Competition
Golden Lion – The Room Next Door, dir. Pedro Almodóvar
Special Jury Prize – April, dir. Dea Kulumbegashvili
Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize – Vermigilio, dir. Maura Delpero
Silver Lion for best director – Brady Corbet for The Brutalist
Volpi Cup for Best Actress – Nicole Kidman for Babygirl
Volpi Cup for Best Actor – Vincent Lindon for The Quiet Son
Golden Osella for Best Screenplay – Murilo Hauser, Heitor Lorega for I’m Still Here
Marcello Mastroianni Award – Paul Kircher for And Their Children After Them
Horizons
Best Film – The New Year That Never Came, dir. Bogan Muresanu
Best Director – Sarah Friedland for Familiar Touch
Special Jury Prize – One Of Those Days When Hemme Dies, dir. Murat Firatoglu
Best Actress – Kathleen Chalfant for Familiar Touch
Best Actor – Francesco Gheghi for Familia
Best Screenplay – Scandar Copti for Happy Holidays
Best Short Film – Who Loves The Sun, dir. Arshia Shakiba
Horizons Extra
Armani Beauty prize – The Witness, dir. Nader Saeivar
Lion of the Future Luigi de Laurentis Award for a Debut film – Familiar Touch, dir. Sarah Friedland
Venice Classics
The best documentary on cinema is Chain Reactions, dir. Alexandre O. Philippe
Best restored film – Ecce Bombo, dir. Nanni Moretti
Venice Immersive
Grand Prize – Ito Meikyu, dir. Boris Labbe
Special Jury Prize – Oto’s Planet, dir. Gwenael Francois
Achievement Prize – Impulse: Playing With Reality, dirs. May Abdalla, Barry Gene Murphy