Venice Film Festival Awards

Gianfranco Rosi with Golden Lion honour

Gianfranco Rossi’s documentary about life on the ring-road highway that circles Rome gave Venice its first Italian winner since 1998’s The Way We Laughed (that film’s director, Gianni Amelio, was also coincidentally in competition this year with L’Intrepido). It’s also the first time a documentary has ever won at the fest; this was the first year non-fiction films were included. Jury president Bernardo Bertolucci commented on the other documentary in competition, Errol Morris’ portrait of Donald Rumsfeld, The Unknown Known, and said that some on the jury “thought about giving (Rumsfeld) the Best Actor prize.”


Golden Lion 
Sacro GRA (Gianfranco Rosi) 

Grand Jury Prize 
Stray Dogs (Tsai Ming-Liang) 

Special Jury Prize 

The Police Officer's Wife (Philip Groning) 

Silver Lion for Best Director

Alexandros Avranas (Miss Violence) 

Volpi Cup for Best Actor 
Themis Payou (Miss Violence) 

Volpi Cup for Best Actress 
Elena Cotta (A Street in Palermo) 

Best Screenplay 
Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope (Philomena) 

Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best New Young Actor or Actress 
Tye Sheridan (Joe) 

Fedeora Prize - Best Mediterranean Film 
Miss Violence (Alexandros Avranas) 

Green Drop Award 
Ana Arabia (Amos Gitai) 

Queer Lion 
Philomena (Stephen Frears) 

FIPRESCI Prize 
Tom at the Farm (Xavier Dolan) 


Critics Week 

Best Film 
Class Enemy (Rok Bicek) 

Best Performance
Anna Odell (The Reunion) 

Best Photography 
Sebastien Sepulveda (The Quispe Girls) 

Luigi de Laurentiis Award: Lion of the Future 
White Shadow (Noaz Deshe) 

Venice Days

Best Film 
Bethlehem (Yuval Adler) 

Special Mention 
La Belle Vie (Jean Denizot) 

Best Director 
Miko Lazarov (Alienation) 

Critics Week (run by independent SNCCI, Italy's National Union of Film Critics) 

Main award
Zoran, My Nephew the Idiot(Matteo Oleotto)

Best European Film(Europa Cinemas Label) 
The Good Life, (Jean Denizot)

Special Mention 
Giuseppe Battiston (Zoran, My Nephew the Idiot)