Eleven days after Ink opened the Sala Grande, the jury presided over by Maggie Gyllenhaal delivered a verdict that will be argued about for the rest of the season — and gave the Golden Lion to the only film in competition directed by a woman.
The Golden Lion
Woman Unknown (Kvinde Ukendt), the third feature by Danish-Egyptian director May el-Toukhy, a Denmark-Sweden-Latvia co-production, took the Leone d'Oro for Best Film. It was the sole title in the Venezia 83 competition with a woman as its only director — a statistic that was widely noted when the line-up was announced in July, and which the jury answered in the most direct way available to it.The film doubled up: Mathilde Arcel took the Coppa Volpi for Best Actress for her performance in it. A Golden Lion and a Volpi in the same film is a rare combination, and it makes Woman Unknown the unambiguous centre of this edition.
The Rest of the Podium
- Silver Lion – Grand Jury Prize: Possible Love (Ga-Neung-Han Sa-Rang), Lee Chang-dong — the South Korean master's return, and for many observers the pre-festival favourite for the Lion itself.
- Silver Lion for Best Director: Ilya Khrzhanovsky for DAU — the most divisive title of the competition, rewarded for its direction rather than embraced as a whole.
- Coppa Volpi for Best Actor: John Malkovich, for Wild Horse Nine, Martin McDonagh's black comedy about two veteran CIA officers dispatched to Easter Island ahead of the 1973 Chilean coup, opposite Sam Rockwell.
- Best Screenplay: Stéphane Brizé, Coralie Amédéo and Olivier Gorce for A Good Little Soldier (Un Bon Petit Soldat).
- Special Jury Prize: NAZA, by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor.
- Marcello Mastroianni Award for a young performer: Malou Khebizi, for A Place to Heal.
Beyond the Competition
- Lion of the Future – Luigi De Laurentiis Award for a debut film: House of the Wind, by Cameroonian-French director Bernard Auguste Kouemo Yanghu.
- Orizzonti Best Film: Diane in the Loop, by Ann Sirot and Raphaël Balboni.
- Orizzonti Best Director: Jacqueline Lentzou, for A Day in the Life of Jo: Chapter Phaedra.
- Venice Immersive Grand Prize: The Pigeon Ring, by Zhang Yuqi and Shixin Tao.
- Venice Classics, Best Restored Film: Long Night in 1943 (1960), Florestano Vancini.
- Golden Lions for Lifetime Achievement: George Clooney and Ellen Burstyn.
- Glory to the Filmmaker Award: Luca Guadagnino.
Reading the Verdict
Juries reveal themselves in what they decline to do. This one had a competition stacked with returning masters — Werner Herzog, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Nanni Moretti, Lee Chang-dong, McDonagh, Casey Affleck — and it gave its top prize to a third feature by a director most of the room could not have picked out of a line-up ten days earlier.
That is a specific argument about what a festival is for: not a ranking of reputations, but a place where a film can arrive unknown and leave as the centre of the year. The title, in hindsight, is almost too neat.
Eleven Days, Closed
The edition ended with God Laughs, directed by Giovanni Veronesi, and with a Lido that emptied in roughly the time it takes for the last water taxis to clear the Excelsior pontoon. By Sunday afternoon the risers were down and the carpet was rolled.
Our full Venezia 83 archive — red carpets, arrivals, portraits and private sessions, stills and motion — is now closed and delivered.
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