Golden Lion for Coppola's Somewhere, De la Iglesia gets Silver Lion

11/09/2010 - Quentin Tarantino, president of the international jury, awarded the Golden Lion to his friend Sofia Coppola for her film Somewhere. It has been a lucky year for women in cinema, after Kathryn Bigelow won an Oscar, the first woman in history to nab the Best Director Oscar. At Venice before now, the last woman to win the Golden Lion was Mira Nair for Monsoon Wedding in 2001.

Spain’s Alex de la Iglesia picked up the Silver Lion for Best Director for A Sad Trumpet Ballad (see review), whose camerawork is surprising and innovative, as always in the Spanish director’s films. A Sad Trumpet Ballad also nabbed Best Screenplay, which shows that the film definitely won over the jury.

Tarantino was also impressed by Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski’s political thriller Essential Killing (see review), which received the Special Jury Prize.

Italy goes home empty-handed, despite having four films in competition.

Elsewhere, Europe is represented in the Mostra prize list with the Volpi Cup for Best Actor going to Vincent Gallo, the laconic protagonist of Essential Killing; and Best Actress for Ariane Labed, star of Greek director Athina Rachel Tsangari’s Attenberg (see review).

Golden Lion for Best Film
Somewhere - Sofia Coppola

Silver Lion for Best Director
A Sad Trumpet Ballad [trailer, film focus] - Alex de la Iglesia

Special Jury Prize
Essential Killing [trailer, film focus] - Jerzy Skolimowski Special Lion for Lifetime Achievement
Monty Hellman

Volpi Cup for Best Actor
Vincent Gallo - Essential Killing [trailer, film focus]

Volpi Cup for Best Actress
Ariane Labed - Attenberg [trailer, film focus]

Marcello Mastroianni Award
Mila Kunis - Black Swan

Osella for Best Screenplay
Alex de la Iglesia - A Sad Trumpet Ballad [trailer, film focus]

Osella for Best Technical Contribution
Mikhail Krichman - Silent Souls

Luigi De Laurentiis Award for Best Debut Film
Majority - Seren Yüce

Horizons Awards

Horizons Award
Summer of Goliath - Nicolàs Pereda

Special Jury Prize
The Forgotten Space - Noel Burch, Allan Sekula

Horizons Award for Best Short Film
Coming Attractions - Peter Tscherkassky

Horizons Award for Best Medium-length Film Tse (Out) - Roee Rosen

Special Mention
Jean Gentil - Israel Cardenas, Amelia Laura Guzman

Venice Short Film Nominee for the European Film Awards
The External World - David OReilly

COLLATERAL AWARDS

FIPRESCI Prize
Best Film at 67th Venice Film Festival: Silent Souls - Aleksei Fedorchenko
Best Film in Horizons and International Critics’ Week: El Sicario - Room 164 - Gianfranco Rosi