The 69th Venice Film Festival, in which 18 films took part, found its winners, which was announced today by an international jury.
The statuette of the "Golden Lion of St. Mark" (the main prize of the festival) will be taken by director Kim Ki-duk with him to South Korea. It was his film "Pieta" that was awarded this highest award. However, this fact was not a surprise to anyone, since the picture managed to gain international recognition. And the plot of the film, subtly interwoven with biblical legends, pleased not only ordinary viewers, but also the most merciless critics.
It is worth noting that this is the second award in the account of Kim Ki Duc. In 2004, he received the Silver Lion for his painting The Empty House. In the same year, the award “Silver Lion of St. Mark” was awarded to Paul Thomas Anderson's “Master,” a film about a religious sect.
By the way, the “Volpi Cup” for the best male role was divided by Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix, who played the main roles in the “Master”. But the actress Hadas Yaron from Israel received such a Cup for Best Actress due to work in the film "Fill the Void" by Rama Burshtein.
Ulrich Zaidl and his painting "Paradise: Faith" was awarded a special jury prize, despite the fact that a lawsuit was filed against the filmmakers in Italy. The best script is called the script of the film "Something in the Air" by Olivier Assayasu.
Fabrizio Falco named the best novice actor. His acting work in the films Sleeping Beauty (Marco Bellocchio) and His Son Made It (Daniele Cipri) were awarded the Marcello Mastroiani Special Prize. Bellocchio and Chipree themselves shared the prize for best camera work and technical performance.
Despite the love of the audience and good reviews from critics, the film "Treason" of the Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov will return to his homeland without awards. As for the Horizons competition program, the Chinese film Three Sisters won in it.
We can say that the distribution of the awards of the film festival was quite expected, because the favorites were determined already in the very first days of the competition.
This year, the jury's head was replaced at the Venice Film Festival. The place of Mark Muller, which became part of the history of the competition, was taken by the director of the Turin Museum of Cinema and the famous critic Alberto Balber. According to the absolute majority of opinions, Balbera breathed new breath into the festival.
