The 81st Venice Film Festival ended last Saturday with a grand awards ceremony, marking the start of the awards season. The festival, known for highlighting future Oscar favorites, has seen eight of the last twelve Best Director Oscars go to films that premiered in Venice.
This year’s jury, led by French actress Isabelle Huppert, honored Spanish director Pedro Almodovar's first English-language film, "The Room Next Door," with the prestigious Golden Lion award. The film, which explores themes of euthanasia and climate change, received an 18-minute standing ovation at its premiere.
Pedro Almodovar, a beloved figure in the film world, had previously received a lifetime achievement award at Venice in 2019. He also won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film for "All About My Mother" in 1999.
The runner-up Silver Lion went to Italian director Maura Delpero for "Vermiglio," a slow-paced drama set in the Italian Alps during World War Two.
Nicole Kidman was named Best Actress for her role in "Babygirl," an erotic film where she plays a CEO who risks her career and family through a toxic affair. France's Vincent Lindon won Best Actor for his performance in "The Quiet Son," a drama about a family struggling with extreme-right radicalism.
The Best Director award went to American Brady Corbet for "The Brutalist," a three-and-a-half-hour film shot on 70mm celluloid. The film tells the story of a Hungarian Holocaust survivor, played by Adrien Brody, who tries to rebuild his life in the United States.
Other notable winners included Murilo Hauser and Heitor Lorega for Best Screenplay, Dea Kulumbegashvili for the Special Jury Award, and Paul Kircher for Best Young Actor.
