Winners of the 2026 Venice Film Festival have been announced

Winners of the 2026 Venice Film Festival Announced

The 83rd Venice Film Festival, held in Italy from September 2 to 12, has come to an end. The jury, led by actress and director Maggie Gyllenhaal, awarded the main prize — the "Golden Lion" — to May el-Toukhy's film "Woman Unknown" (Denmark). This was the only film in the festival's program directed by a female director.

The "Silver Lion", considered the festival's second most prestigious award, went to the film "Possible Love" (Korea), directed by Lee Chang-dong.

Additionally, the "Silver Lion" for Best Director was awarded to Russian director Ilya Khrzhanovsky for the film "Dau". This is a large-scale experimental drama inspired by the biography of Soviet physicist Lev Landau, with the film's script partially based on the memoirs of Lev Landau's wife, Kora Drobanzeva, published in 1999.

The documentary film "NAZA" received a record-breaking 25-minute standing ovation.

The winners of the film festival were determined as follows:

"Golden Lion" for Best Film — "Woman Unknown", dir. May el-Toukhy

Grand Jury Prize ("Silver Lion") — "Possible Love", dir. Lee Chang-dong

"Silver Lion" for Best Director — Ilya Khrzhanovsky, "Dau"

Special Jury Prize — "NAZA", dir. Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor

Volpi Cup for Best Actress — Mathilde Arcel ("Woman Unknown")

Volpi Cup for Best Actor — John Malkovich ("Wild Horse")

Best Screenplay — Stéphane Brizé, Coralie Amedeo, and Olivier Gorce, for the film "A Good Little Soldier"

Marcello Mastroianni Award — Malou Khebizi, for the film "A Place To Heal"

"Golden Lion" for Lifetime Achievement — George Clooney and Ellen Burstyn