'Woman Unknown' Wins Golden Lion, Malkovich 'Humbled' by Best Actor Award at Venice Film Festival
Mathilde Arcel’s performance also won best actress as the film earned a rare double victory, while festival leaders faced renewed scrutiny over women directors.
- On Saturday, Danish filmmaker May el-Toukhy's post-war drama "Woman Unknown" won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, with star Mathilde Arcel securing best actress honors in a rare double victory.
- El-Toukhy's achievement highlighted a stark gender disparity: she was the only woman directing a feature in the festival's 21-strong main line-up, drawing criticism and prompting renewed scrutiny of systemic barriers facing women filmmakers.
- Beyond the top prize, John Malkovich won best actor for "Wild Horse Nine", while South Korean auteur Lee Chang-dong took the Silver Lion for "Promised Love" and Russian-born filmmaker Ilya Khrzhanovsky won best director for "DAU".
- Documentary "NAZA" by Israeli directors Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor won the Special Jury Prize, following Thursday's record 25-minute standing ovation for "The Voice of Hind Rajab", highlighting the festival's focus on global politics.
- Festival director Alberto Barbera defended the male-dominated line-up as merit-based, even as many big studio-backed Hollywood contenders remained absent this year due to cost-cutting measures.
83 Articles
83 Articles
‘Woman Unknown’ wins Gold Lion at Venice Film Festival
Danish filmmaker May el-Toukhy’s post-war drama Woman Unknown won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival on Saturday, with its star Mathilde Arcel also taking best actress honours in a rare double victory. El-Toukhy was the only woman directing a feature film in the main, 21-strong film line-up, a disparity that drew criticism during the festival and prompted renewed scrutiny of the barriers facing women in cinema. Set in the aftermath of …
The Golden Lion for best film was won at this year's Venice Film Festival by the historical drama Kvinde uknedt (The Unknown Woman) by Danish director with Egyptian roots May el-Toukhy. The 83rd edition of the festival ended on Saturday evening. Among the Czechoslovak films, the title Valerie and the Week of Wonders by Jaromil Jireš from 1970 appeared, which did not win the Venice Classics competition section.
The "Golden Lion" statue for the best film film of the Venice Film Festival received the painting "An Unknown Woman" by the director May El-Tooki.
The Danish film drama "Woman Unknown" won the Golden Lion for the best film at the 83rd Venice Film Festival and the leading actress Mathilde Arcel won the prize as best actress.
Radio France Internationale
Danish WWII drama wins top prize at Venice festival
"Unknown Woman" had been a major talking point of the festival due to its subject matter, which has rarely been explored in film, and because director May el-Toukhy was almost alone as a woman director in the event. Only one other woman -- Israel's Rachel Szor, co-director of the chilling documentary "NAZA" about Israel's war on Gaza -- was behind the 21 films vying for prizes at the star-studded closing ceremony in Venice. "'Woman Unknown' is a…
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