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Pedro Almodóvar with his Golden Lion for The Room Next Door
Photo: A Avezzu/La Biennale di Venezia/Foto ASAC
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Veteran Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar took home the top prize Golden Lion in Venice last night for The Room Next Door.
Dedicating the prize to his family, he said: "It is my first movie in English... but the spirit is Spanish.” The film is an adaptation of Sigrid Nunez’s novel What Are You Going Through, on focuses on the rekindled friendship between two women (Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton).
The Best Director Silver Lion was awarded to Brady Corbet for The Brutalist, starring Adrian Brody and Felicity Jones, which charts the tale of a Holocaust survivor who moves to the US. Murilo Hauser and Heitor Lorega wo the Silver Lion for their script for Walter Salles political drama I’m Still Here.
The night of celebration was also marked by grief as the news broke that Nicole Kidman, who won the Best Actress award for erotic thriller Babygirl, had left the festival after her mother Janelle Ann Kidman had died. Director Halina Reijn accepted the award on her behalf and read a statement from the star: "I am in shock and I have to go to my family, but this award is for her, she shaped me, she guided me, and she made me.
"I am beyond grateful that I get to say her name to all of you through Halina, the collision of life and art is heart-breaking, and my heart is broken. We love you all."
Vincent Lindon won the Best Actor award for his role in father and son drama The Quiet Son, while the Silver Grand Jury Prize went to Vermiglio, Maura Delpero's rural drama set against the backdrop of the Second World War. The Special Jury Prize went to April, directed by Dea Kulumbegashvili, which focuses on a woman offering clandestine abortions in Georgia.
Sarah Friedland’s Familiar Touch was the big winner in the festival's Orizzonti section. The film, about an eightysomething making the move into assisted living, won the Best Director gong and the Lion of the Future prize for Best Debut. Her star Kathleen Chalfant won the Best Actress role in the section, with Francesco Gheghi picking up the male equivalent for Familia, directed by Francesco Costabile. The Best Film was named as The New Year That Never Came, by Bogdan Muresanu, charting intersecting lives in a Romania on the cusp of revolution.
The full list of awards is below:
Main Competition
Golden Lion - The Room Next Door, dir Pedro Almodóvar
Silver Lion - Grand Jury Prize - Vermiglio, dirMaura Delpero
Silver Lion - Best Director - Brady Corbet for The Brutalist
Special Jury Prize - April, Dea Kulumbegashvili
Best Actor - Vincent Lindon for The Quiet Son
Best Actress - Nicole Kidman for Babygirl
Best Screenplay - Murilo Hauser, Heitor Lorega for I’m Still Here
Orizzonti (Horizons) Section
Best Screenplay - Scandar Copti for Happy Holidays
Best Actress - Kathleen Chalfant for Familiar Touch
Best Actor - Francesco Gheghi for Familia
Best Young Actor - Paul Kircher for And Their Children After Them
Best Film - The New Year That Never Came, Bogdan Muresanu
Best Director - Sarah Friedland for Familiar Touch
Special Jury Prize - One Of Those Days When Hemme Dies, dir Murat Fıratoğlu
Best Short Film - Who Loves The Sun, dir Arshia Shakiba
Lion of the Future for a film début - Familiar Touch, dir Sarah Friedland
Orizzonti Extra Audience Award - The Witness, dir Nader Saeivar
Venice Classics Section
Best Documentary on Cinema - Chain Reactions, dir Alexandre O Phillipe
Best Restored Film - Ecce Bombo, dir Nanni Moretti
Read what Alessandro Nivola told us about his role in The Room Next Door and The Brutalist.
