Venice Film Festival: French Audrey Diwan wins the Golden Lion for her film “L’Evénement” – Le Monde

French director Audrey Diwan received the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival on Saturday 11 September for The event, a raw, intimate and feminist film about a young woman who clandestinely aborts. This award was awarded to him unanimously by the jury chaired by South Korean director Bong Joon-ho (Parasite).

“Unfortunately when you work on abortion you are always in the news”, said Audrey Diwan, 41, who succeeds the Chinese-American after receiving her award. Chloé Zhao, crowned last year for Nomadland. “I made this film with anger and desire, I made it with my stomach, with my guts with my heart”, she added. “I wanted it to be an experience”, a “Journey in the skin of this young woman”.

# BiennaleCinema2021 # Venezia78 Leone d’Oro per il miglior film / Golden Lion for Best Film: L’ÉVÉNEMENT di / by Audre… https://t.co/mrJuagFgNt

– la_Biennale (@La Biennale di Venezia)

The event, adapted from the eponymous autobiographical story by novelist Annie Ernaux, takes place in France in the 1960s, before the legalization of abortion. It shows the journey of a young student who becomes pregnant, interpreted by the Franco-Romanian Anamaria Vartolomei, a discovery.

The event is the second film by Audrey Diwan, French novelist and journalist of Lebanese origin, who has co-written the screenplay for several films including North Bac Where French by Cédric Jimenez, before moving on to directing (but you are crazy). She becomes the fourth director to receive the most prestigious award in Venice since 2000.

Four years after the Weinstein affair and the start of the great examination of conscience on the 7th^e art, the very gradual opening of the most prestigious awards to female directors is confirmed: in July, the Cannes Film Festival also distinguished a young French director, Julia Ducournau, Palme d’Or with the UFO Titanium.

• Penélope Cruz receives the Best Actress Award

Spanish star Penélope Cruz won the award for best performance by her role in Parallel mothers, his new collaboration with his compatriot Pedro Almodovar. “Thank you Pedro, you created a magic, I adore you”, reacted the actress by receiving her prize. She also dedicated her award to Pilar Bardem, the mother of her husband, actor Javier Bardem, who died in July. Almodovar had already allowed her to be rewarded with the interpretation prize at Cannes for Volver.

Film that opened the 78^e Mostra, Parallel mothers is built on the cross path of two single mothers (Penélope Cruz and Milena Smit) who give birth on the same day in the same maternity. Penélope Cruz plays a forty-year-old photographer who becomes pregnant with an archaeologist and married friend, who has promised to help her find the burial place of her great-grandfather, who disappeared at the start of the Spanish Civil War.

Read also “Volver”: the best of all worlds according to Pedro Almodovar

• John Arcilla wins Best Actor Award

Filipino actor John Arcilla, a star in his country, won the Best Actor Award. “Mille grazie, mille grazie”, he reacted in Italian. “I am the happiest actor in the world tonight, because I know that we come from different countries, different cultures, but tonight we all understand each other thanks to the cinema”, he added.

The actor is recognized for his role as a journalist confronted with “fake news” and corruption in On the Job 2: The Missing 8, a three and a half hour long film by Erik Matti. Although presented as a feature film in competition in Venice, the film will be cut into a mini-series for the American television channel HBO.

John Arcilla plays a radio presenter without qualms supporting local and national authorities, who must gradually revise his position in the face of a series of assassinations affecting colleagues and relatives.

This film is a sequel to On the Job (2013), still by director Erik Matti, who had achieved immense success in the Philippines by recounting how the government had used detainees to carry out assassinations.

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• Here are the winners of the other awards:

Silver Lion – Grand Jury Prize: God’s hand, by Paolo Sorrentino

Silver Lion – Best Achievement Award: The Power of the Dog, by Jane Campion

Marcello Mastroianni Prize for the best male or female hope: Filippo Scotti, for his role in God’s hand, by Paolo Sorrentino

Special Jury Prize: Il Buco, by Michelangelo Frammartino

Best Screenplay Award: Maggie Gyllenhaal, for The Lost Daughter

The World with AFP