While last year’s strikes created a somewhat subdued energy on the Lido with very few talent able to be present, this year’s 2024 Venice Film Festival proved to hot and steamy. And we’re not just talking about the excessive heat movie stars and fan alike were subjected to. Films like Halina Reijn’s erotic thriller “Babygirl” and Luca Guadagnino’s adaptation of William S. Burrough’s short novel “Queer” aroused audience interest with career-best performances from Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig and highly revealing sexual interplay. Brady Corbet returned to the Palazzo del Cinema with his four-hour post-WWII epic “The Brutalist,” which screened to rave reception and is widely considered the top choice for this year’s Golden Lion, while Todd Phillips and Joaquin Phoenix’s DC sequel, “Joker: Folie à Deux,” proved divisive among critics.
Presenting the top prize this year will be jury president Isabelle Huppert. She is joined by Silver Lion winning filmmaker James Gray, who previously served on Huppert’s jury at Cannes Film Festival in 2009 and was reported to have called her a “fascist bitch” after denying his choice of Jacques Audiard’s “The Prophet” the Palme d’Or, instead awarding it to Michael Haneke’s “The White Ribbon.” Others on Huppert’s competition jury include British filmmaker Andrew Haigh, last year’s Special Jury Prize winner Agniezka Holland, Brazilian filmmaker and programmer Kleber Mendonça Filho, Oscar-nominee and César award-winner Abderrahmane Sissako, “Cinema Paradiso” writer/director Giuseppe Tornatore, German filmmaker Julia von Heinz, and Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi of “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and “Memoirs of a Geisha.”
For her part, Huppert was seen on nearly every red carpet, doing her part to support each film that was screened in competition. Another standout presence throughout the festival was “Bones and All” actress Taylor Russell, who is serving on the jury that decides the Luigi De Laurentiis Award for Debut Film. They were both seen at the premieres of Pedro Almodóvar’s “The Room Next Door” and Pablo Larraín’s “Maria,” two films that played extremely well in the Sala Grande, but failed to earn strong critical response. Nonetheless, they’re likely to earn a few awards, with Jolie especially serving as a huge contender for Best Actress. Walter Salles’ biographical drama “I’m Still Here” also provides a riveting performance from Ferranda Torres and will probably end up being Brazil’s Oscar entry.
Today’s prize winners also include honorees from other sections of the festival, including the Orizzonti, Biennale College, and VR programs.
You can watch the awards via the Biennale’s YouTube livestream below as well.
2023 Venice Film Festival Winners
Golden Lion:
Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize:
Silver Lion for Best Director:
Special Jury Prize:
Best Screenplay:
Best Actress:
Best Actor:
Marcello Mastroianni Best Young Actor Award:
Orizzonti Best Film:
Orizzonti Best Director:
Orizzonti Special Jury Prize:
Orizzonti Best Actress:
Orizzonti Best Actor:
Orizzonti Best Screenplay:
Orizzonti Best Short Film:
Lion of the Future Award for a Debut Film:
Orizzonti Extra Audience Award:
Venice Classics — Best Documentary: “Chain Reactions” (Alexandre O. Phillipe)
Venice Classics — Best Restored Film: “Ecce Bombo” (Nanni Moretti)
Venice Immersive Grand Prize: “Ito Meikū” (Boris Labbé)
Venice Immersive Achievement Prize: “Impulse, Playing with Reality” (Barry Gene Murphy, May Abdalla)
Venice Immersive Special Jury Prize: “Oto’s Planet” (Gwenael François)
