Lindsey Bahr
September 11 2021
Audrey Diwan’s abortion drama L’Evenement”(Happening) has won the Golden Lion at the 78th Venice International Film Festival, while the runner up honour went to Paolo Sorrentino’s The Hand of God.
Diwan's film about a French college student who finds herself with an unwanted pregnancy on a search for an abortion was the unanimous choice from the prestigious jury that included recent Oscar winners Bong Joon Ho and Chloé Zhao.
The competition this year was robust, including well-received films like Jane Campion’s “The Power of the Dog,” Pedro Almodóvar’s “Parallel Mothers,” Maggie Gyllenhaal’s “The Lost Daughter” and “The Hand of God.” Twenty-one films were vying for the prize, which has become a promising early indicator of a film’s Oscars prospects.
“I did this movie with anger. I did the movie with desire also. I did it with my belly, my guts, my heart, my head,” Diwan said Saturday. “I wanted “Happening” to be an experience.”
Diwan is the sixth woman to have directed a Golden Lion winning film. Others include Chloé Zhao (“Nomadland”), Margarethe Von Trotta (“Marianne & Juliane”), Agnès Varda (“Vagabond”), Mira Nair (“Monsoon Wedding) and Sofia Coppola (“Somewhere”).
Sorrentino took the runner up prize, the Silver Lion, for his semi-autobiographical film “The Hand of God,” while Campion won the Silver Lion for best director for her period epic “The Power of her Dog.” It’s her second time winning a runner-up prize at Venice. Her first was in 1990 for “An Angel at My Table,” a Janet Frame biopic.
“It’s amazing to get an award from you people,” Campion said, talking to the jury standing beside her. “You’ve made the bar very, very high for me in cinema, Bong, Chloé.”
Penélope Cruz won the Volpi Cup for best actress for her performance as a new mother in Almodovar’s “Parallel Mothers.” She thanked her director and frequent collaborator for, “Inspiring me every day with your search for truth.”
“You have created magic again and I could not be more grateful or proud to be part of it,” Cruz continued. “I adore you.”
Gyllenhaal won best screenplay for her adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s 2008 novel “The Lost Daughter,” which is both her first screenplay and film as a director.
“I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to be here,” Gyllenhaal said. “I was married in Italy, in Puglia. I found out I was pregnant with my second daughter in Italy. And really my life as a director and writer and my film was born here in this theater.”
Gyllenhaal said her film is “Italian in its bones” even though it was shot in Greece and in the English language.
“In a way as women we have been born into an agreement to be silent and Ferrante broke that agreement,” Gyllenhaal said. “I had the same feeling seeing ‘The Piano’ when I was in high school.”
John Arcilla was awarded the Volpi Cup for best actor for “On The Job: The Missing 8.”
The festival has in the past decade reestablished itself as the preeminent launch pad for awards hopefuls. Zhao’s “Nomadland” won the prize last year and went on to win best picture, best director and best actor at the Oscars. In addition to Zhao and Bong, who served as president, the jury also included actors Sarah Gadon and Cynthia Erivo and directors Saverio Costanzo (“My Brilliant Friend”) and Alexander Nanau (“Collective”).
Zhao’s trajectory was the second time in four years that the Golden Lion winner has won best picture. Guillermo del Toro’s “The Shape of Water” shared a similar path. Venice’s 2019 winner, “Joker,” simply went on to get a best picture nomination (and ten other nods as well).
Not winning the top prize at Venice doesn’t end an Oscar campaign before it starts, though. Many eventual winners simply premiered at the festival, and not always even in the competition before winning best picture (“Birdman” and “Spotlight”) or best director (Damien Chazelle for “La La Land,” Alfonso Cuarón for “Gravity” and “Roma,” del Toro for “The Shape of Water” and Alejandro G. Iñarritu for “Birdman”).
Some of the biggest films at the festival were not part of the competition, including Ridley Scott’s “The Last Duel,” Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune” and Edgar Wright’s “Last Night in Soho.”
In the Horizons section, “Pilgrims” by Laurynas Bareisa won best picture. The actor award went to Piseth Chhun of “White Building” and actress to Laure Calamy for “A plein temps,” which also won best director for Éric Gravel.
The awards ceremony brings to a close the first major film festival of the fall season which thus far has appeared to be a resounding success, despite the delta variant. The COVID safety protocols were strict and the films strong.
But Venice also successfully brought the glamour back to a red carpet that may have been less crowded than usual but made up for in viral moments, from a teasingly tender embrace between co-stars Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain to the red carpet debut of Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck — although perhaps it should be called a debut redo since the two rekindled a romance that ended 18 years ago.
Documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras wins Venice Film Festival's Golden Lion
"All the Beauty and the Bloodshed," a documentary about photographer Nan Goldin, won the festival's best film award. Cate Blanchett and Colin Farrell were crowned best actors.
"All the Beauty and the Bloodshed" is Laura Poitras' latest documentary, about photographer Nan Goldin
The Golden Lion for best film went to "All the Beauty and the Bloodshed," a documentary about acclaimed photographer Nan Goldin, and her David-vs.-Goliath campaign against the influential Sackler family for their role in the opioid epidemic. It was directed by Academy Award winner Laura Poitras, whose 2014 documentary, "Citizenfour" portrayed Edward Snowden and the NSA spying scandal.
There were 23 films competing for the top award at the 79th Venice International Film Festival, which took place from August 31 to September 10.
'Saint Omer' lands runner-up Silver Lion award
The Silver Lion grand jury prize went to Alice Diop, for "Saint Omer." The French filmmaker's feature debut also earned her the Lion of the Future award. Diop's previous documentary film, "We," had won the top prize of the Encounters section at the 2021 Berlinale.
Alice Diop's "Saint Omer" was acclaimed as "hypnotically absorbing" by Variety
The Silver Lion award for best director went to Luca Guadagnino ("Call Me By Your Name") for his film "Bones & All," a cannibal romance starring Timothee Chalamet and Taylor Russell. The Canadian actress also won the Marcello Mastroianni award for best new talent.
The Special Jury Prize recognized Jafar Panahi's latest work, "No Bears." The Iranian director was arrested in July and must now serve a six-year sentence that was originally handed to him in 2010. Panahi had been defying his country's authorities work ban for years, finding creative solutions to nevertheless pursue filmmaking.
The award for best screenplay went to British-Irish playwright Martin McDonagh, who also directed his Venice entry, "The Banshees of Inisherin." One of the two co-stars of the black comedy-drama, Colin Farrell, won best actor, while Cate Blanchett took the best actress nod for her portrayal of an acclaimed orchestra conductor who faces a sudden downfall in Todd Field's "Tar." Accepting the award, she also thanked her co-star, German actress Nina Hoss.
Cate Blanchett's performance in "Tar" was also acclaimed
US actress Julianne Moore leads seven-person jury
Julianne Moore served as the president of the competition's seven-person jury, which included Argentine director Mariano Cohn, Italian director and screenwriter Leonardo Di Costanzo, French director Audrey Diwan (who won the Golden Lion last year with "Happening"), Iranian actress Leila Hatami, and Spanish filmmaker Rodrigo Sorogoyen.
British-Japanese author Kazuo Ishiguro, who is also a member of the jury, couldn't participate in the awards ceremony due to a positive COVID-19 diagnosis.
There weren't however any particular COVID restrictions during the event, leading the ceremony's host, actress Rocio Munoz Morales, to say at the beginning of the night that the fest "shined with normalcy."
The world's oldest film festival, Venice is renowned for selecting Academy Award-winning films; eight of the last 10 Oscars for best director went to filmmakers whose works premiered in its competition.
A record number of Netflix productions, four films, were also in the run. Among them, Noah Baumbach's "White Noise," a satire of US consumerism and academia starring Adam Driver, opened the festival. The streaming giant's productions however left empty-handed.
French actress Catherine Deneuve and US filmmaker and scriptwriter Paul Schrader (Martin Scorsese's "Taxi Driver," 1974), both received a Golden Lion for their lifetime achievement at the opening of the festival.
VENICE FILM FESTIVAL: STARS ON THE RED CARPET
Harry Styles: Just the right collar?
Hundreds of fans melted in the sun waiting for him to arrive: Harry Styles, a member of former boy band One Direction until 2016, has become a pop phenomenon in the realms of music and fashion in recent years. He also wants to establish himself as an actor. He had his first major film role in the thriller "Don't Worry, Darling"; on the red carpet, he showcased his sense of style in a Gucci suit.
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Edited by: Wesley Dockery
The oldest international film festival – and one of the most important, especially considering its proven track record for premiering future Oscar contenders – has come to a close.
The Competition jury of this 79th edition led by Julianne Moore has crowned Laura Poitras’ documentary All The Beauty And The Bloodshed as the winner of the coveted Golden Lion award for Best Film.
"Documentary is cinema"
This is historic win for several reasons: not only is it only the second time in the festival’s 79-year history that a documentary wins the Golden Lion (following Italian director Gianfranco Rosi’s Sacro GRA, which won the Golden Lion nine years ago), but it’s the third time running that a female filmmaker wins the Golden Lion, after Chloé Zhao in 2020 for Nomadland and Audrey Diwan last year for the abortion drama Happening.
All The Beauty And The Bloodshed is the portrait of artist Nan Goldin and her campaign against the Sackler pharmaceutical dynasty, who was responsible for the opioid epidemic.
Poitras, an investigative journalist, previously won the Oscar for Best Documentary in 2015 for her blisteringly powerful Edward Snowden doc Citizenfour.
Laura Poitras with the Golden Lion
“This is for Nan,” stated Poitras when receiving the Golden Lion. “Monday is her birthday, so we’ll bring this to Nan.”
She also thanked the festival for recognizing that “documentary is cinema”.
Goldin is one of the world’s most important living American artists and a documentarian of the US’ LGBT+ history. Her story is a rich and complicated one and will doubtlessly be celebrated further as the fall season continues.
There is no release date for the film as of yet, but the film's distributor, Neon, has stated that the theatrical release would coincide with a retrospective of Goldin's work at the Moderna Museet, set to open 29 October. HBO Documentary Films recently acquired it for a television run.
Bones and Banshees
Two other major winners this year are two films Euronews Culture flagged very early on as potential award winners: Bones And All and The Banshees Of Inisherin.
Italian director Luca Guadagnino (Call Me By Your Name, Suspiria) won the Silver Lion for Best Director for Bones And All.
He teamed up once again with Timothée Chalamet for the adaptation of Camille DeAngelis’ novel about a pair of drifters (Chalamet and Taylor Russel) who embark on a road trip and fall in love. The twist in this seemingly by-the-book coming-of-age drama? The two scamps more-than-dabble in cannibalism.
Luca Guadagnino wins Best Director
Guadagnino crafts some of the most sensorial cinematic journeys put to screen, and Bones And All is without a doubt one of the most anticipated indie titles of 2022. Audiences will be able to sink their teeth into this tender yet bloody love story about the intense impossibility of love in November.
His lead actress, Taylor Russell, the breakout star from Waves, nabbed the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best New Talent.
Colin Farrell beat several frontrunners to take the Best Actor award for his performance in The Banshees Of Inisherin. He accepted his award via video link from Los Angeles. His director, Martin McDonagh won Best Screenplay for the Ireland-set drama.
Many thought that Brendan Fraiser would win Best Actor for his celebrated big screen comeback in Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale, but the latter remains another frontrunner for acting prizes in the near future.
This is the second time Martin McDonagh wins the Best Screenplay award in Venice, following 2017’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, which went on to win Best Film at the Oscars. Time will tell if his 2022 Venice win will also herald future Oscar wins.
Martin McDonagh wins Best Screenplay
The Banshees Of Inisherin sees him reunite with his In Bruges stars Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson for an absurdist tragicomedy set in 1920s western Ireland. They play two lifelong friends, Pádraic and Colm, whose relationship breaks down when one suddenly decides to cut off all ties with the other. The repercussions ripple across the small-town community and threaten to descend into violence.
This dark comedy about friendship shows off McDonagh’s knack for blurring comedy and tragedy and will be released on 21 October.
Blanchett heading for the Oscars; France wins big
Cate Blanchett predictably won Best Actress for her towering performance as a classical conductor in Todd Field’s Tár, a win which kickstarts her Oscar campaign as frontrunner for best actress.
When accepting her award, Blanchett thanked Field, saying that he has “been absent from our screens for too long…and I’m glad you’re back.”
Cate Blanchett wins the Volpi Cup for Best Actress
The intensely unnerving drama is released in cinemas on 7 October.
Elsewhere, French drama Saint Omer by documentarian Alice Diop won the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize, as well as the Lion of the Future – Luigi de Laurentiis Award for a debut film.
Alice Diop wins the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize
Politically engaged Venice
Finally, the Special Jury Prize went to No Bears by celebrated Iranian director Jafar Panahi.
As we noted in our preview of this year’s festival, No Bears was one of the most anticipated titles, especially after the imprisonment of its director, who was sentenced to six years in prison this year.
Venice's Artistic Director Alberto Barbera expressed the festival’s support for Iranian filmmakers persecuted in their country and his dismay at the incarceration “for no reason” of Jafar Panahi, Mohammad Rasoulof and Mostafa Al-Ahmad, directors who are “only guilty of using their right to freedom of expression”.
Earlier today (10/09), Venice jury head Julianne Moore, jury member Audrey Diwan and Barbera chose to join activists from the International Coalition Filmmakers at Risk (ICFR) on the red carpet in a flash mob calling for the release of Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi from Iranian prison.
Audrey Diwan (left) and Julianne Moore (centre), protesting on the red carpet for the release of Jafar Panahi
On July 12, Panahi was arrested in Tehran and slapped with a six-year prison sentence after he inquired about the arrests of fellow directors Mohammad Rasoulof and Mostafa Al-e Ahmad.
Moore held a sign emblazoned with Panahi’s face and the call to action: “Release Jafar Panahi!”
Panahi is no stranger to Venice, having won the Golden Lion for The Circle in 2000. His newest film is a political thriller that follows two parallel stories of love. His win serves to remind audiences how lucky they are to be watching the output of a voice that refuses to be silenced, even against Iran’s crackdown on free expression and peaceful dissidence.
A streaming loser
While many expected the Marilyn Monroe biopic Blonde, The Whale or Florian Zeller’s _The Father_-follow up, The Son, to go home with some awards, the major loser this year is Netflix.
With four films in Competition this year – Noah Baumach’s White Noise, Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s Bardo, Andrew Dominik’s Blonde and Romain Gavras’ Athena – the streaming giant was looking for a repeat of 2018, when Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma won the Golden Lion. Last year, Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog (another Netflix title) won best director and foreshadowed Campion’s Oscars campaign.
Still, we're not too worried for the streamer - Blonde comes out on 28 September, Bardo is released on 16 December, and White Noise hits the streaming platform on 30 December. All three remain highly anticipated titles and should rear their heads when it comes to awards nominations next year.
The Golden Lion La Biennale di Venezia© Provided by Euronews
The full list of the Venice Film Festival 2022 Competition award winners can be found below – you can be sure that these are the films that everyone will be talking about in the second half of this year and which will dominate awards chat once the fall festival season is over:
Golden Lion for Best Film: All the Beauty and the Bloodshed - Laura Poitras (USA)
Silver Lion - Grand Jury Prize: Saint Omer - Alice Diop (France)
Silver Lion - Award for Best Director: Luca Guadagnino – Bones And All (Italy/USA)
Volpi Cup for Best Actress: Cate Blanchett - Tár (USA)
Volpi Cup for Best Actor: Colin Farrell - The Banshees of Inisherin (Ireland/UK/USA)
Award for Best Screenplay: Martin McDonagh - The Banshees of Inisherin
Special Jury Prize: No Bears - Jafar Panahi (Iran)
Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best New Talent: Taylor Russell - Bones and All
