Cinema VinesThe 80th Venice Film Festival concluded on Saturday with the Danish drama Woman Unknown taking home the Golden Lion, the festival’s highest honour. The film, directed by May el‑Toukhy, tells the story of a woman who tries to conceal a wartime relationship with a Nazi while living in occupied Denmark. It was the only feature film in the competition helmed by a woman, a fact that drew particular attention from the jury and the press.
El‑Toukhy, who was almost the sole female director present at the event, explained at the ceremony that the film examines the female body as a battleground and a public issue, and that it also explores the lives of women who are invisible, unseen and voiceless. The jury head, American actor‑director Maggie Gyllenhaal, had already criticised the lack of women‑directed films on the opening day, calling it a “systemic problem.”
Other major awards were presented during the closing ceremony. The Silver Lion for second place went to Lee Chang‑dong’s Possible Love, a poignant study of a relationship that earned high praise throughout the festival. Ilya Khrzhanovsky received the Best Director prize for his sprawling, experimental project DAU, a film that chronicles the life of Soviet nuclear scientist Lev Landau and involved 2,000 people over a period of two decades. Khrzhanovsky dedicated the award to the people of Ukraine fighting for their freedom.
John Malkovich was honoured with the Best Actor award for his role as a jaded CIA agent in the dark comedy Wild Horse Nine, a film that follows his character’s break on Easter Island before the 1973 Chilean coup. Variety noted that Malkovich is “drumming up awards buzz” and could be a contender for a Best Actor Oscar. Mathilde Arcel won Best Actress for her debut performance in Woman Unknown, portraying a bride‑to‑be who struggles to hide the shame of a past relationship with a Nazi. She described the experience as a dream she does not want to wake up from, and she held her prize tearfully on stage.
The festival also highlighted the Israeli documentary NAZA, directed by Oscar‑winning Yuval Abraham and co‑director Rachel Szor. The film, which examines Israel’s war on Gaza, was one of the 21 films vying for prizes and had been tipped by some critics for the Golden Lion. The competition, which spanned ten days of often dark and disturbing programming, reflected the war‑torn and anxiety‑filled state of the world, as promised by chief organiser Alberto Barbera.
