The Venice Film Festival awards the Golden Lion to a woman for the third consecutive year

The award for ‘All the Beauty and the Bloodshed’, by Laura Poitras, was surprising, but the jury bet on truth, like Cate Blanchett and Colin Farrell

Taking into account that the selection of the competitive show of the 79th Venice Film Festival he was very balanced, with no absolute favorites, the prizes were very mundane. The jury was chaired by Julianne Moore and composed of the Argentine director, screenwriter and producer Mariano Cohn, the Italian director and screenwriter Leonardo di Costanzo, the French director Audrey Diwan, the Iranian actress Leila Hatami, the Japanese-British writer and screenwriter Kazuo Ishiguro and the director, screenwriter and producer Spanish Rodrigo Sorogoyen.

Yes the golden lion for the documentary All the beauty and the bloodshedby Laura Poitras (from citizen four, on Edward Snowden), it was amazing. The film is about the photographer Nan Goldin and their struggle for the responsibility and punishment of Sackler family, a major sponsor of the arts and owner of a pharmaceutical company that is largely responsible for the opioid addiction epidemic and deaths in the United States. It is a competent, moving and very political work, which makes it clear how difficult it is to go against billionaires and big companies in the world we live in. He is also optimistic, in a way. And it is the third consecutive Golden Lion for a woman, after nomadic landby Chloe Zhao, in 2020, and The eventnow judge Audrey Diwan, last year.

But, in the other seven prizes awarded by the jury of the official competition, only five works were contemplated, with double wins for Bones and all (directed by Luca Guadagnino and Marcello Mastroianni for young actor or actress for Taylor Russell) e The Banshees of Inisherin (Coppa Volpi by actor a Colin Farrell and roadmap for Martin McDonagh, who also directs the film). Not that they didn’t deserve it, but with a no-favorites contest, the impression is that either the jury found the selection uninspiring or there was a big split, and few films were rated by everyone.

Also noteworthy is the predominance of English-speaking films. Okay, ten of the 23 selected were mostly spoken in that language, not to mention Bard, in Alejandro González Iñárritu, which is partially in English. But six of the eight trophies awarded on Saturday night went to British productions, as well as All the beauty and the shedding of blood, bones and all And The Banshees of Inisherin, Tar, Why Cate Blanchett also took the actress Coppa Volpi. The exceptions were the Grand Jury Prize for the French Sant’Omer, by Alice Diop, and the Special Jury Prize for Iranian to Bears, by Jafar Panahi.

Overall, it was a good selection, but not very exciting, without a lot of movies to love or hate. There have been a lot of political dramas, though Argentina, 1985by Santiago Miter, on the trial of those responsible for the crimes of the dictatorshipLord of the Ants, by Gianni Amelio, on a teacher arrested for homosexual, or Beyond the wall, by Vahid Jalilvand, on the repression in Iran.

Competing for the Golden Lion were also many confined or isolated films, generally about relationships – an effect, perhaps, of the pandemic. In this category fit The whaleby Darren Aronofsky, immensity, by Emanuele Crialese, Love life, by Koji Fukada, The eternal daughter, by Joanna Hogg, other people’s children, by Rebecca Zlotowski, Bones and all And The Banshees of Inisherin. Of these, the jury clearly favored those with a slightly more far-fetched concept. The latter two involve violence and blood, also speaking respectively of a love relationship and between two friends.

THE Netflix, which had four competing productions, ran out of prizes. In exchange, Bones and all, tar And The Banshees of Inisherinreleased by MGM / Warner, Universal Pictures and (Disney’s) Searchlight, respectively, the classic studios, have earned a total of five trophies.

Source: Terra

Emily

Emily Jhon is a product and service reviewer at Gossipify, known for her honest evaluations and thorough analysis. With a background in marketing and consumer research, she offers valuable insights to readers. She has been writing for Gossipify for several years and has a degree in Marketing and Consumer Research from the University of Oxford.