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VENICE 2008 Awards

Golden Lion goes to US title but Best Actors are European

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After the flop came the triumph. Two years after his failure, The Fountain, Darren Aronofsky returns to the Venice Film Festival to see his latest work crowned with the highest honour. Indeed, US film The Wrestler has won the Golden Lion at the festival’s 65th edition, chosen by a jury presided by Wim Wenders, and including Juriy Arabov, Douglas Gordon, Lucrecia Martel, Valeria Golino, John Landis and Johnnie To.

Lauded by critics and audiences alike, the film was long tipped to win Best Actor (for its star Mickey Rourke). The Volpi Cup for Best Actor went instead to Italy’s Silvio Orlando for his role in Pupi Avati’s Giovanna’s Father.

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Best Actress went to France’s Dominique Blanc (winner of four Cesar awards) for her role as an obsessed and pathologically jealous woman in L’Autre (“The Other One”) by Patrick-Mario Bernard and Pierre Trividic. The Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Emerging Talent this year went to actress Jennifer Lawrence for Guillermo Arriaga’s The Burning Plain.

The Silver Lion for Best Director was awarded to Russia’s Aleksei German jr (who previously presented The Last Train and Garpastum at Venice), for Paper Soldier. The title also picked up the Osella for Best Cinematography (Alisher Khamidhodjaev and Maxim Drozdov).

The Special Jury Prize was presented to Teza, an epic yet intimate exploration of Ethiopia’s recent past, by master Haile Gerima. The director also scooped Best Screenplay.

The Special Lion for Lifetime Achievement went to Werner Schroeter, the figurehead of the New German Film movement, whose controversial title, That Night [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, screened in competition this year.

Finally, Gianni Di Gregorio’s Pranzo di Ferragosto (“Feast of the Assumption Lunch”) picked up the Lion of the Future – Luigi De Laurentiis Award for Best Debut Film. The prize is worth $100,000, to be shared between the up-and-coming director and his producer Matteo Garrone.

Golden Lion for Best Film
The Wrestler - Darren Aronofsky

Silver Lion for Best Director
Aleksey German jr. - Paper Soldier

Jury Special Prize
Teza [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Haile Gerima

Special Lion for Work Achievement
Werner Schroeter

Coppa Volpi for Best Actor
Silvio Orlando - Il Papà di Giovanna by Pupi Avati

Coppa Volpi for Best Actress
Dominique Blanc - L'Autre [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Patrick Mario Bernard and Pierre Trividic

Marcello Mastroianni award
Jennifer Lawrence - The Burning Plain by Guillermo Arrriaga

Osella for Best Script
Haile Gerima - Teza

Osella for Best Technical Contribution
Alisher Khamidhodjaev e Maxim Drozdov - Paper Soldier by Aleksey German Jr.

Luigi De Laurentis Award - First film
Pranzo di Ferragosto [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Gianni Di Gregorio

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(Translated from Italian)

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