“Woman Unknown” took top honors at the 83rd Venice Film Festival, which came to a close on Saturday when Danish-Egyptian director May el-Toukhy’s drama, set just after the Nazi occupation of Denmark during WWII, won the Golden Lion.
El-Toukhy was the only woman director with a film in competition at this year’s festival. Her victory was decided on by a jury headed by Maggie Gyllenhaal who, during the opening press conference, called the dearth of female filmmakers on the Lido “a systemic problem.”
Earlier in the evening, Mathilde Arcel, who stars in “Woman Unknown” as a young nanny and housemaid with a secret, also won the Volpi Cup for best actress.
The festival’s Silver Lion — Grand Jury Prize went to “Possible Love,” from South Korean filmmaker Lee Chang-dong. In his review for TheWrap, Steve Pond described Lee’s follow-up to 2018’s “Burning” as an “intricate story of class conflict, journalistic ethics and the difficulty of healing.”
Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor’s documentary “Naza” won the Special Jury Prize. Abraham and Szor, two of the Oscar winners for 2025’s best doc “No Other Land,” took the stage to a standing ovation from the audience. Produced by the Guardian, the film investigates the killing of Palestinians by Israeli forces in Gaza.
John Malkovich won the Volpi Cup for best actor, honoring his turn in Martin McDonagh’s “Wild Horse Nine.” He accepted remotely, via a pre-taped message. Since the film premiered, Malkovich has been bandied about as a likely Oscar nominee, thanks to near-universal praise for his performance as a CIA agent grappling with declining health in the 1970s.
As William Bibbiani noted in his review for TheWrap, “It’s John Malkovich’s film. … He can convey more with a barely audible grumble than some actors can with a two-page monologue. Malkovich is one of the great performers and ‘Wild Horse Nine’ is one of his finest hours.”
Ilya Hersanovsky won the Silver Lion for directing “Dau.”
Earlier in the festival, George Clooney and Ellen Burstyn each accepted a Golden Lion for lifetime achievement.
See below for a complete list of winners for this year’s festival.
Main Competition
Golden Lion — Best Film
“Woman Unknown,” May el-Toukhy
Silver Lion — Grand Jury Prize
“Possible Love,” Lee Chang-dong
Silver Lion — Best Director
Ilya Hersanovsky, “Dau”
Special Jury Prize
“Naza,” Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor
Volpi Cup for Best Actor
John Malkovitch, “Wild Horse Nine”
Volpi Cup for Best Actress
Mathilde Arcel, “Woman Unknown”
Best Screenplay
“Un Bon Petit Soldat,” Stéphane Brizé, Coralie Amedeo and Olivier Gorce
Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor or Actress
Malou Khebizi, “A Place to Heal”
Armani Beauty Audience Award
“I Matter,” Alina Serban
Lion of the Future (Venice Award for Debut Film)
“House of the Wind,” Auguste Bernard Kouemo Yanghu
Orizzonti (Horizons)
Best Film
“Diane in the Loop,” Ann Sirot and Raphaël Balboni
Special Jury Prize
“House of the Wind,” Auguste Bernard Kouemo Yanghu
Best Director
Jacqueline Lentzou, “A Day in the Life of Jo: Chapter Phaedra”
Best Screenplay
“The Children of the Monkey,” Tommaso Landucci and Damiano Femfert
Best Actress
Laleh Marzban, “Falling House”
Best Actor
Riccardo Scamarcio, “The Children of the Monkey”
Best Short Film
“A Few Moments of Happiness,” Shaden Safieddine Tazi
Venice Immersive
Achievement Prize
Peter Flaherty, “Empire at Sea”
Special Jury Prize
Rory Mitchell and Nonny de la Peña, “Out of the Ashes”
Grand Prize
Shixin Tao and Yuqi Zhang, “The Pigeon Ring”
Venice Classics
Best Restored Film
“Long Night of 1943,” Florestano Vancini
