Venice, Italy (EFE).– The 82nd Venice Film Festival closed Saturday with United States director Jim Jarmusch winning the Golden Lion for “Father Mother Sister Brother,” while Latin American cinema scored big in the Horizons section and a powerful Gaza film claimed the Grand Jury Prize.
Jarmusch’s surprise win capped a politically charged awards night at the Lido.
His film, divided into three chapters exploring family ties and starring Cate Blanchett, Adam Driver, Charlotte Rampling, Vicky Krieps, and Tom Waits, beat out the widely tipped favorite “The Voice of Hind Rajab.”
Gaza film resonates
Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania’s “The Voice of Hind Rajab” received the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize.
It reconstructs the killing of a six-year-old Palestinian girl, Hind Rajab, during an Israeli attack in January 2024, using the real audio of her emergency calls.
“Cinema cannot restore what has been taken, but it can preserve her voice and make it resonate across borders,” Ben Hania said, “dedicating the award “to the Palestinians and to all those risking everything to save lives in Gaza.”
The production was backed by Hollywood names including Brad Pitt, Joaquin Phoenix, Rooney Mara, and Alfonso Cuarón.
Phoenix and Mara attended the premiere dressed in mourning and holding a photo of Hind.
Latin America in the spotlight
Mexican director David Pablos won the Horizons Award for Best Film with “En el camino,” a raw love story between a young sex worker and a truck driver on Mexico’s northern highways.
The film had already earned Venice’s Queer Lion.
“This film comes from a very personal place, and it’s beautiful to see it connect with others,” Pablos said. Producer Inna Payan ended her speech with: “Long live cinema, long live Palestine.”
Ecuadorian director Ana Cristina Barragán took Horizons Best Screenplay for Hiedra, a co-production with Mexico, France and Spain.
The film follows Azucena, a woman in her thirties who becomes fixated on an orphan boy in Quito.
“This prize gives value to our film and means so much for Ecuadorian cinema, where making movies is only possible through titanic collective efforts,” Barragán said, also calling out: “Long live Latin American cinema, free Palestine.”
The Silver Lion for Best Director went to US filmmaker Benny Safdie for “The Smashing Machine,” starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. The Volpi Cups for acting were awarded to Italy’s Tony Servillo (La Grazia) and China’s Xin Zhilei (The Sun Rises on Us All).
French filmmakers Valérie Donzelli and Gilles Marchand won Best Screenplay for À pied d’oeuvre, while the Special Jury Prize went to Gianfranco Rosi’s documentary Sotto le nuvole about life around Mount Vesuvius.
Audience prize for Calle Málaga
In the new Spotlight section, the audience award went to Calle Málaga, directed by Spanish-Moroccan filmmaker Maryam Touzani and starring Carmen Maura and Marta Etura.
The film, also selected by Morocco for the Oscars, portrays a fraught mother-daughter relationship in Tangier.
Accepting the award, Touzani linked her remarks to the war in Gaza: “As mothers, some of us are lucky to still look into our children’s eyes. Many others cannot.”
The final day of the festival was also marked by politics, with some 5,000 people joining demonstrations on the Lido organized by Italian film associations to denounce what they called a “genocide” in Gaza. EFE
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