72nd Venice Film Festival Winners

Erik Anderson September 12, 2015

Venezuela's From Afar was the big winner at the 72nd Venice Film Festival — **Venezuela’s *From Afar* was the big winner at the 72nd Venice Film Festival**

The winners of the 72nd Venice Film Festival have been announced and South America triumphed with the top two wins; The Golden Lion and The Silver Lion. The Golden Lion went to Venezeula’s From Afar from Lorenzo Vigas. The Silver Lion was awarded to Argentina’s The Clan from Pablo Trapero. From Afar is Vigas’s first feature and tells the story of an older gay man in Caracas who pays younger men for their company. The Clan details the story of the Puccio Clan, an Argentine crime family who were convicted of four kidnappings and three murders in the 1980s.

The Jury Grand Prize went to the animated film Anomalisa from Academy Award winning director Charlie Kaufman (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) and Duke Johnson.

American actor/director Brady Corbet (Mysterious Skin) walked off with two awards, one for the Luigi de Laurentis Lion of the Future and from the Horizons Jury he was awarded Best Director for his feature film debut, Childhood of a Leader. Speaking of debuts, young Abraham Attah won the Marchello Mastroianni Prize for Young Performer for his performance in Beasts of No Nation. The film Courted also won two awards; one for Best Actor for Fabrice Luchini and for its screenplay. Actress Valeria Golino picked up the Best Actress award for Per amor vostro. She ties Shirley MacLaine and Isabelle Huppert as the only two time Volpi Cup winners.

The jury was presided over by Academy Award winner Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity).

Full list of winners:

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION

GOLDEN LION
“From Afar” (Lorenzo Vigas)

SILVER LION
“The Clan” (Pablo Trapero)

JURY GRAND PRIZE
“Anomalisa” (Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson)

SPECIAL JURY PRIZE
“Frenzy” (Emin Alper)

ACTOR
Fabrice Luchini (“Courted”)

ACTRESS
Valeria Golino (“Per amor vostro”)

MARCELLO MASTROIANNI PRIZE FOR YOUNG PERFORMER
Abraham Attah (“Beasts of No Nation)

BEST SCREENPLAY
Christian Vincent (“Courted”)

LUIGI DE LAURENTIS LION OF THE FUTURE
“The Childhood of a Leader,” Brady Corbett (U.S.)

HORIZONS JURY

BEST FILM
“Free in Deed” (Jake Mahaffi)

BEST DIRECTOR
Brady Corbet “Childhood of a Leader”

SPECIAL JURY PRIZE
“Neon Bull” (Gabriel Mascaro)

SPECIAL PRIZE FOR BEST ACTOR OR ACTRESS
Dominique Leborne (“Tempete”) by Samuel Collardey

BEST SHORT
“Belladonna,” Dubravna Turic

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.