Venice Film Festival #68, 2011

[Chris Knipp]

Sokurov won the Golden Lion

On the final day of the 2011 Venice Film Festival, prizes have been announced.

The Leone d'Oro/Golden Lion top prize to Alexei Sokurov's FAUST. The article in the leading Italian newspaper La Repubblica describes it as a strong, solid film signed by an auteur of indisputably classical festival quality. Italian films made a better showing than last year in competition: Emanuele Crialese received the Special Jury Prize for his new film, TERRAFIRMA, and Guido Lombardi won a prize for the best first film for his LA-BAS. Nothing for audience favorites Polanski, Clooney and Friedkin, the La Repubblica piece emphasized.

Here's a rough translation of the rest of the article:

The other major prizes. Greater attention was aid by the jury to cinema from the Orient. The Silver Lion for best director went to Sgangiun Cai's PEOPLE MOUNTAIN PEOPLE SEA, whose screening became dramatic when it was stopped after a machine for simultaneous translation began to give off smoke. The Marcello Mastroianni prize for emerging young actors went to the Japanese actors Shota Sometani and Fumi Nikaido for their performances in HIMIZU, by diredctor Sion Sono -- a film that had been barely noticed by hardcore purist critics. The Osella for photography went to WUTHERING HEIGHTS by the English director Andrea Arnold. The script writing award went to ALPS by the Greek newcomer Yorgos Lanthimos.

Actors. The Coppa Volpi for Best Actor went to the emerging American [sic] superstar Michael Fassbender for his intense, risky performance in Steve McQueen's SHAME. The big controversy of the Lido was the woman's prize. Everyone was rooting for the amazing Kate Winslet in CARNAGE and instead the award went to Deanie Ip, star of the Chinse film A SIMPLE LIFE by Ann Hui -- another choice that nodded toward the Far East.

Among the most disappointed must have been William Friedkin, whose KILLER JOE had won a lot of applause; along with George Clooney, who had arrived yesterday morning and booked a suite at the Cipriani Hotel in hopes of receiving a prize. The rumor at the festival about Polanski was that his failure to win anything had something to do with the fact that the head of the jury was an American (Darron Arronofsky), given the case pending against the director in the USA, and that this had pushed his splendid CARNAGE out of the competition.

Other awards. One of the prizes awarded in the Horizons section went to an Italian language film: the short "Waiting for the arrival," Felice D'Agostino and Arturo Lavorato.

The winning themes. Immigration: on the Italian front, went to Crialese for his TERRAFIRMA/MAINLAND. He won the Silver Lion in 2006 for GOLDEN DOOR. LA-BAS also made this its central theme. Also favored were films drawn from literary works (FAUST, WUTHERING HEIGHTS). The other big theme was personal tragedy -- McQueen's SHAME.

--LA REPUBBLICA, September 10, 2011.

Here is a list of all the prizes:

- Golden Lion - FAUST - Aleksandr Sokurov
- Silver Lion for best director to Cai Shangjun for film REUN SHAN REN HAI
- Special Jury Prize to the film by Emanuele Crialese - TERRAFIRMA/MAINLAND
- Coppa Volpi for best actress Deanie Yip 'Tao Jie in A SIMPLE LIFE
- Volpi Cup for best actor - Michael Fassbender in SHAME
- Lion of the Future - Luigi De Laurentiis Award at Venice LA-BAS - A CRIMINAL EDUCATION - Guido Lombardi
- Osella Efthymis Filippou -- Best Screenplay to Efthymis Filippou and Yorgos Lanthimos - AlPIS/APPS
- Osella Best Technical Contribution to Robbie Ryan for cinematography - WUTHERING HEIGHTS
- Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor / Actress of the young protagonists of HIMIZU - Shota Sometani and Fumi Nikaido
- The Horizons Award for Best Feature was awarded to the films of Shinya Tsukamoto Kotoko
- Grand Special Jury Prize at the Horizons section of the film WHORES' GLORY by Michael Glawogger
-Horizons Award for best short film -- IN ATTESA DELL'AVVENTO -- Felice D'Agostino and Arturo Lavorato