venice film festival – Artifex.News

‘Woman Unknown’ wins top prize at Venice Film Festival as lone female contender triumphs

admin — Sat, 12 Sep 2026 19:13:00 +0000

Danish director May El-Toukhy receives the Golden Lion for Best Film for “Kvinde Ukendt” (Woman unknown) during the closing ceremony of the 63rd Venice Film Festival at Venice Lido on September 12, 2026.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Danish filmmaker May el-Toukhy’s post-war drama “Woman Unknown” won the Golden Lion at ‌the Venice Film Festival on Saturday, with its star Mathilde Arcel also taking best actress honours in a rare double victory.

Ms. El-Toukhy was the only ⁠woman directing a feature film in the main, 21-strong movie line-up, a disparity that drew criticism during the festival and prompted renewed scrutiny of the barriers facing women in cinema.

Set in the aftermath of ‌World War Two, “Woman Unknown” follows a housemaid played by Arcel whose past relationship with a German soldier threatens to destroy her future.

The film unfolds against the ‌backdrop of a newly liberated Denmark, where women accused of fraternising with occupying German ‌forces ⁠were often subjected to vigilante justice.

John Malkovich named best actor

South Korean auteur ⁠Lee Chang-dong took the runner-up Silver Lion award for “Promised Love”, while Russian-born filmmaker Ilya Khrzhanovsky won best director for “DAU”, a hugely ambitious project shot largely in Ukraine before the ongoing war that has attracted intense scrutiny and controversy.

John Malkovich appears on screen to accept the Coppa Volpi for best actor for the film ‘Wild Horse Nine’ during the closing ceremony of the 83rd edition of the Venice Film Festival.
| Photo Credit:
AP

In his acceptance speech, Mr. Khrzhanovsky, who has ‌renounced his Russian citizenship, dedicated the prize to Ukraine.

John Malkovich won the best actor award for his role as an ageing, maverick CIA agent in Martin McDonagh’s razor-sharp comedy “Wild Horse Nine”.

The Venice festival marks the start of the awards season and regularly throws up ‌big favourites for the Oscars.

However, many of the big studio-backed contenders that once crowded the Venice schedule were absent this year as Hollywood reconsiders how to market its movies and cut costs.

Gaza in focus

In a change ⁠of tone, the festival offered a programme steeped in global politics and social upheaval, including “NAZA” — a hard-hitting documentary by Israeli directors Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor that won the Special Jury ‌Prize.

Based on anonymous interviews with 24 Israeli intelligence officers and soldiers, the film accuses the Israeli military of routinely approving mass civilian deaths when they target militants in the Gaza Strip. Israel has denied the charge.

The documentary received a record 25-minute standing ovation at its premiere on Thursday (September 10, 2026) — the second year in succession that a film about Gaza has resonated in Venice after “The Voice of Hind Rajab”, a true-life account of the killing of a Palestinian girl ‌during the war.

Stephane Brize, Coralie Amedeo and Olivier Gorce received the screenplay award for their well-received French workplace drama “A Good Little Soldier”, while Malou Khebizi was named as best emerging young actor for her role in another well-received French production — “A Place To Heal”.

Festival director ⁠Alberto Barbera has defended the male-dominated line-up this year, insisting that selection decisions were based on artistic ⁠merit rather than quotas, and urging the industry to do more to help women break into the business.

Ms. El-Toukhy said women filmmakers continued to face greater difficulties securing ‌financing, limiting budgets, casting opportunities and, ultimately, access to major festivals.

The head of the main jury, U.S. actor/director Maggie Gyllenhaal, also weighed in, telling reporters that female filmmakers often struggled to secure financing because the stories they want to tell were not seen as important.

Published – September 13, 2026 12:43 am IST

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Venice Film Festival opens with star power and Gaza protesters

admin — Wed, 27 Aug 2025 20:13:00 +0000

The Venice Film Festival kicked off Wednesday (August 27, 2025) with Hollywood royalty arriving for Italy’s glitzy movie showcase where a strong line up of star-packed films will vie with protests about the Gaza war for public attention.

Julia Roberts and George Clooney are some of the biggest names at the 82nd edition of the world’s longest-running festival, with top directors from Kathryn Bigelow to Jim Jarmusch all due on the sandy Lido across the Venice lagoon.

The main event on Wednesday (August 27, 2025) evening’s opening ceremony was Francis Ford Coppola awarding a Lifetime Achievement award to German director Werner Herzog (“Grizzly Man”, “Fitzcarraldo”) for his canon of more than 70 films.

Herzog, who said he always searched for the “sublime” in his films, will showcase his latest documentary, “Ghost Elephants”, about a lost herd in Angola, on Thursday (August 28, 2025).

Italian director Paolo Sorrentino’s “La Grazia” — about an Italian president grappling with doubts over whether to sign a euthanasia bill into law — was the first main in-competition movie presented on Wednesday (August 27, 2025).

“Dwelling on doubt and then allowing that doubt to mature into a decision is something that is increasingly rare,” Sorrentino told journalists.

“Mother”, a film depicting Mother Teresa as a sometimes ruthless figure struggling to reconcile her views on motherhood and abortion, opened the secondary Orizzonti section.

Eyes were set to quickly turn to Hollywood’s favourite leading man, Clooney, who stepped off a water taxi in Venice with his wife Amal on Tuesday (August 26, 2025).

On Thursday (August 26, 2025), he will be seen in the premiere of Netflix-produced comedy “Jay Kelly”, directed by Noah Baumbach, in which he plays a top Hollywood actor with an identity crisis.

On the same night is the premiere of sci-fi comedy “Bugonia” from Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos, which stars Emma Stone as a pharmaceutical executive kidnapped by people who mistake her for an alien.

Roberts, meanwhile, will appear at Venice for the first time on Friday (August 29, 2025) in the out-of-competition cancel-culture drama “After the Hunt”, from Italy’s Luca Guadagnino.

Winners of the festival’s prestigious Golden Bear top prize often go on to Oscar glory, such as “Nomadland” or “Joker” in previous years.

Pro-Palestinian protest

Though the festival and this year’s jury president Alexander Payne (“Sideways”) were keen to focus on the roster of movies making their world premieres in the next 11 days, world events dominated their day-one press conference.

Protesters held up a “Free Palestine” banner in front of the festival’s main building, while a group of Italian film professionals have called on organisers to openly condemn Israel’s invasion and siege of Gaza.

A demonstration to condemn Israel and the war in Gaza has been called for Saturday (August 30, 2025) in Venice by hundreds of local political and rights groups.

The festival had already declared “huge sadness and suffering vis-a-vis what is happening in Gaza and Palestine”, its director Alberto Barbera told reporters. But he ruled out rescinding invitations to pro-Israeli actors.

Israel’s nearly two-year bombardment of Gaza also featured prominently during the Cannes film festival in May where hundreds of movie figures signed a petition saying they were “ashamed” of their industry’s “passivity” about the war.

The festival has selected a film about the war for its main competition — “The Voice of Hind Rajab” by Franco-Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania, which reconstructs the death of six-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab who was killed last year by Israeli forces.

Frankenstein

The flurry of premieres to be screened in Venice also include Guillermo del Toro big-budget remake of “Frankenstein”, starring Oscar Isaac, or Bigelow’s political thriller “A House of Dynamite”, starring Idris Elba.

In one of the boldest casting choices, British actor Jude Law will try his hand at Vladimir Putin in Olivier Assayas’s “The Wizard of the Kremlin”, while Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson portrays mixed martial arts champion Mark Kerr in much-hyped “The Smashing Machine” from Benny Safdie.

Jarmusch marks his first time in Venice’s main lineup with “Father Mother Sister Brother”, bringing together Cate Blanchett, Adam Driver and Tom Waits, while Taiwan-born model and actress Shu Qi makes her directorial debut with “Nuhai (Girl)“.

Published – August 28, 2025 01:43 am IST

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