Venice Film Festival awards: Chloé Zhao’s ‘Nomadland’ wins Golden Lion, Vanessa Kirby named Best Actress

Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland, starring Frances McDormand, has won the Golden Lion for Best Film at the 77th Venice International Film Festival.

The win makes Zhao the first female filmmaker to take Venice’s top prize since Sofia Coppola triumphed with Somewhere in 2010, and the first woman of color to win since Mira Nair in 2001. This year featured eight female directors in competition (a record) and comprised nearly half the lineup, under jury presiden Cate Blanchett.

Last year’s Golden Lion went to Todd Phillips’ Joker, under jury president Lucrecia Martel. That film went on to earn a billion dollars worldwide, 11 Oscar nominations and wins for lead actor Joaquin Phoenix and composer Hildur Guðnadóttir.

The runner-up Grand Jury Prize went to Michel Franco for his dystopian social thriller New Order, and Japanese helmer Kiyoshi Kurosawa was named Best Director for Wife of a Spy, a wartime espionage drama.

Vanessa Kirby, who was Emmy-nominated for The Crown, was one of the big breakouts of the festival in Kornél Mundruczó’s Pieces of a Woman, portraying a woman coming to terms with a recent stillbirth with husband Shia LaBeouf. In her speech she thanked the teams behind both films, dedicating her award to “all the mothers who have lost children and haven’t had their stories told,” and thanking her co-star Shia LaBeouf, for being “the greatest ally, friend and creative dance partner I could ever hope for.” Pieces of a Woman was scooped up by Netflix in a worldwide deal, adding yet another Best Actress contender to their already stacked slate. Earlier this week they picked up Halle Berry’s directorial debut, the work in progress Bruised, out of Toronto.

Here is the the complete list of winners:

COMPETITION

Golden Lion: Nomadland, Chloé Zhao

Grand Jury Prize: New Order, Michel Franco

Silver Lion for Best Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Wife of a Spy

Best Actress: Vanessa Kirby, Pieces of a Woman

Best Actor: Pierfrancesco Favino, Padrenostro

Best Screenplay: The Disciple, Chaitanya Tamhane

Special Jury Prize: Dear Comrades, Andrei Konchalovsky

Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor: Rouhollah Zamani, Sun Children

HORIZONS

Best Film: The Wasteland, Ahmad Bahrami

Best Director: Genus Pan, Lav Diaz

Special Jury Prize: Listen, Ana Rocha de Sousa

Best Actress: Khansa Batma, Zanka Contact

Best Actor: Yahya Mahayni, The Man Who Sold His Skin

Best Screenplay: I Predatori, Pietro Castellitto

Best Short Film: Entre tú y milagros, Mariana Safron

LION OF THE FUTURE

Luigi De Laurentiis Award for Best Debut Film: “Listen,” Ana Rocha de Sousa

VIRTUAL REALITY COMPETITION

Best VR: “The Hangman at Home: An Immersive Single User Experience,”Michelle and Uri Kranot

Best VR Experience:  “Finding Pandora X,” Kiira Benzing

Best VR Story: “Killing a Superstar,” Fan Fan

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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), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) 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.

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