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Venice Film Festival: first winners announced

12.09.2026 21:24
May el‑Toukhy’s Woman Unknown won the Golden Lion for Best Film at the 83rd Venice Film Festival, standing out as the only woman‑directed entry among the 21 films in the main competition.
President of the Venezia 83 jury Maggie Gyllenhaal, Pietrangelo Buttafuoco and Danish director May el-Toukhy hold the Golden Lion award for the film Kvinde Ukendt (Woman Unknown)
President of the Venezia 83 jury Maggie Gyllenhaal, Pietrangelo Buttafuoco and Danish director May el-Toukhy hold the Golden Lion award for the film 'Kvinde Ukendt (Woman Unknown)'EPA/ETTORE FERRARI

Other contenders included Florian Zeller’s Bunker, Martin McDonagh’s Wild Horse Nine, Hirokazu Kore‑eda’s Look Back, and Nanni Moretti’s It Will Happen Tonight.

The Silver Lion – Grand Jury Prize was awarded to Lee Chang‑dong’s Possible Love, the latest installment—after Asghar Farhadi’s Parallel Stories—in an international series inspired by Krzysztof Kieślowski’s The Decalogue, produced by Maciej Musiał and the late Krzysztof Piesiewicz.

Ilya Khrzhanovsky received the directing award for DAU. The Best Screenplay prize went to Stéphane Brizé, Coralie Amédéo, and Olivier Gorce for A Good Little Soldier.

A special award was presented to NAZA, a documentary on the situation in the Gaza Strip by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor.

Mathilde Arcel won Best Actress for her performance in Woman Unknown, while John Malkovich was named Best Actor for Wild Horse Nine.

The Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actress went to Malou Khebizi for A Place to Heal. The main competition jury consisted of Maggie Gyllenhaal (president), Kaouther Ben Hania, Daniel Blumberg, Xavier Giannoli, Francesco Casetti, Shahrbanoo Sadat, and Johnnie To.

The ceremony was hosted by actors Greta Scarano and Nicolas Maupas.

(pu)

Source: PAP