Venice 78, ‘L’Evenement’ wins the Golden Lion, Sorrentino the Silver Lion

The Leone d’Oro di Venezia 78 went to the film ‘L’Événement’ by French director Audrey Diwan, a film that defends the law on abortion by telling the very hard story of a student forced to face a dangerous clandestine abortion in anti-abortion France. 60’s. “We really loved this film and it was a unanimous decision,” said jury president Bong Joon Ho. Italy won with ‘It was the hand of God’, the autobiographical film by Paolo Sorrentino, which won the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize and the Marcello Mastroianni Prize, destined for an emerging young actor, with the protagonist Filippo Scotti (“I am honored and excited as when Paolo chose me for the film”, he said with tears in his eyes). “You have to be patient because I am very excited. Not an easy film”, said Sorrentino who also included Maradona among the thanks. “Every now and then someone nasty says to me: ‘but why are you making another film with Toni Servillo?’ and I can now answer: ‘look where I have come by making films with Servillo’ “, said Sorrentino, moved to tears. But our country also won with Michelangelo Frammartino’s ‘Il Buco’ which won the Special Jury Prize and thanked Calabria (“the most beautiful region) where the film is set. In addition to the Golden Lion for Audrey Diwan, the female majority jury of Venice 78, chaired by Bong Joon Ho and composed of Saverio Costanzo, Alexander Nanau, Virginie Efira, Cynthia Erivo, Sarah Gadon and Chloé Zhao, valued two other deserving directors: the Silver Lion for in fact, the best direction went to Jane Campion, for the film ‘The Power of the Dog’ (“it is incredible the opportunity that Venice has given us to be able to be here again with an audience”). awarded the prize to the best screenplay (taken among other things from the novel ‘The dark daughter’ of the mysterious Italian writer Elena Ferrante) of the film ‘The Lost Daughter’ directed by Gyllenhaal herself. “This film was born thanks to the wonderful novel by a writer it is Italian and was conceived in Italy where I got married and where I conceived my children, “said the director. As expected on the eve, the Women’s Volpi Cup went to Penélope Cruz for the film ‘Madres Paralelas’ by Pedro Almodóvar which opened the Festival on September 1st to applause. But the actress was also highly regarded in another film in competition: the comedy ‘Competencia Oficial’. “This award makes me very very happy, we all know how difficult it is to organize a festival right now”, said the actress after kissing her husband Javier Bardem to whom she dedicated the award, adding a dedication to her ‘parallel mothers’. , her mother and her mother-in-law, who passed away recently, after having predicted that Coppi Volpi would win. Surprisingly, even though the film had entered the toto-Leoni, the male Volpi Cup was instead awarded to Filipino actor John Arcilla for Erik Matti’s ‘On The Job: The Missing 8’ which beat the competition (by Toni Servillo , Vincent Lindon, Benedict Cumberbatch, Oscar Isaac and Yuriy Borisov) with the lead role in the nearly three and a half hour crime movie (the longest film in the competition). Arcilla thanked with a video: “Even if we speak different languages ​​and come from different cultures, we understand each other and this is thanks to cinema”, he said. Venetian billboard, went to the Romanian film ‘Imaculat’ by Monica Stan and George Chiper-Lillemark of the Venice Days. In the Horizons section, the prize for best film went to the Lithuanian film ‘Piligrimai (Pellegrini)’ by director Laurynas Bareiša, the one for best direction to French Éric Gravel for the film ‘À Plein Temps’ and the special jury prize’ El Gran Movimiento ‘by Bolivian director Kiro Russo. The Horizons Award for Best Actress went to Laure Calamy starring in ‘À Plein Temps’ and Best Actor to Piseth Chhun for the film ‘Bodeng Sar (White Building)’ by Cambodian director Kavich Neang. The Orizzonti award for best screenplay went to Peter Kerekes and Ivan Ostrochovský for the film ‘Cenzorka (107 Mothers)’ by Slovak director Peter Kerekes. The horizons award for best short film went to ‘Los Huelos’ by Chilean directors Cristóbal Léon and Joaquín Cociña, who dedicated it to the victims of the Chilean coup of 11 September 1973. The Venice European short film nomination for the 2021 film awards is went instead to ‘The fall of the ibis king’ by Irish directors Josh O’Caoimh and Mikai Geronimo. man who did not want to see Titanic) ‘directed by Teemu Nikki and starring an actor seriously ill with multiple sclerosis which will be released in Italy next week. For the Venice Vr Expanded section, dedicated to virtual reality, the Grand Jury Prize for the best VR work went to ‘Goliath: playing with reality’ by Barry Gene Murphy and May Abdalla; the best VR experience award went to Blanca Li’s ‘Le bal de Paris de Blanca Li’ and the best Vr story award to David Adler’s ‘End of night’. by Antonella Nesi