Golden Lion goes to Kim Ki-Duk

On the poster of this 69th edition of the Venice Film Festival, the first to be directed by Alberto Barbera, a sizeable rhinoceros and a child sit on a boat, the latter dangling his line into the ocean. Some could see this as a metaphor of the festival's editorial line, if this child were the spectator. The boat would be the festival and its selection of heavy-weights (Paul Thomas Anderson, Terrence Malick...) and its will to see new talents emerge like surprises from under the water's surface.

Each to their own to decide if Michael Mann's jury has now acted according to this interpretation by awarding its Golden Lion to South Korean director Kim Ki-duk's Pieta, a film that the press praised and marked as likely to win the festival's top prize.

After a slight mistake on stage, Austrian director Ulrich Seidl was finally the one to receive the Special Jury Prize for Paradise: Faith, while the Silver Lion for Best Director, for which he was initially called up on stage, in fact went to Paul Thomas Anderson for The Master.

Olivier Assayas' talent as a screenwriter won him the Osella Award for Best Screenplay for Something in the Air.

As for acting, the Volpi Cup for Best Actress was awarded to Hadas Yaron for her performance in the Israeli film Fill The Void, while the Volpi Cup for Best Actor was awarded jointly to American actors Philipp Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix, a minimum risk on the jury's part who thus rewarded The Master for the second time in the evening with this double award.

The Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor went to Fabrizio Falco, who acted in both Marco Bellocchio's Dormant Beauty and E Stato il Figlio.

Daniele Cipri, who directed E Stato il Figlio, received the Osella Prize for Best Technical Contribution to honour his work as a director, a way for the jury to reward two directors at the same ceremony.

Belgium also had its day in the Orizzonti section with its Special Jury Prize awarded to Frédéric Fonteyne's Tango Libre and its Lion of the Future for Best First Film awarded to German-Turkish co-production Mold by Ali Aydin.

List of winners

Golden Lion for Best Film
Pieta - Kim Ki-duk

Silver Lion for Best Director
The Master - Paul Thomas Anderson

Special Jury Prize
Ulrich Seidl - Paradise: Faith

Volpi Cup for Best Actor
Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix - The Master

Volpi Cup for Best Actress
Hadas Yaron - Fill The Void

Marcello Mastroianni Award
Fabrizio Falco - Dormant Beauty and E Stato il Figlio

Osella Award for Best Screenplay
Après mai - Olivier Assayas

Osella Award for Best Technical Contribution
E Stato il Figlio - Daniele Cipri

Lion of the Future - Laurentiis Award for Best First Film
Mold - Ali Aydin

Orizzonti
Three Sisters - Wang Bing
Special Jury Prize
Tango Libre - Frédéric Fonteyne

Translated from French

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