Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival with his film “The Room Next Door”. The drama tells the story of two friends who have to deal with death. Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore play the main roles.
Other important awards at the film festival went to Hollywood star Nicole Kidman for her role in “Babygirl” (best actress), Frenchman Vincent Lindon for his part in “Jouer avec le feu” (best actor) and Italian director Maura Delpero, who received the Grand Jury Prize for her film “Vermiglio”.
Because of her mother’s death, Kidman did not attend the awards ceremony. Director Halina Reijn read a message on her behalf: “Today I arrived in Venice only to learn that my beautiful, brave mother Janelle Ann has died. I am in shock and need to go to my family, but this award is for her.”
Almodóvar’s winning film
“The Room Next Door” tells the story of two New York friends. Swinton plays a woman with terminal cancer who asks an old friend (Moore) for a complicated favor. She doesn’t want to be alone at the moment of her self-imposed death. The film is based on the book “What’s Missing You” by Sigrid Nunez.
Almodóvar dedicated the award to his family and his two leading actresses, Swinton and Moore. “You have performed a miracle,” he said. The film is about solidarity, but also about the right to a self-determined death. “People must have the freedom to live and die.”
Almodóvar is Spain’s most internationally famous director. His film “All About My Mother” won an Oscar in 2000. The 74-year-old also received an Oscar in 2003 for “Talk to Her”. “The Room Next Door” is his first English-language feature film.
Awards for Maura Delpero and Brady Corbet
The Grand Jury Prize winner “Vermiglio” tells the story of the life of a family in an Italian mountain village during the Second World War. When a deserter turns up, the dynamics of the siblings are disrupted. The film focuses primarily on the female characters and their lives shaped by Catholicism and patriarchal structures.
The Silver Lion for best director went to American Brady Corbet for “The Brutalist”. The historical drama tells the story of a Jewish architect who wants to start a new life in the USA after the Second World War. The lead actor in the three-and-a-half-hour epic is Adrien Brody.
Film about military dictatorship and abortion drama receive awards
Murilo Hauser and Heitor Lorega won the award for best screenplay for “Ainda estou aqui” (international title: “I’m Still Here”). The drama tells the story of a family that experiences the cruel effects of the Brazilian military dictatorship in the 1970s.
Georgian filmmaker Dea Kulumbegashvili received a special jury prize for “April”. The drama is about a gynecologist who performs illegal abortions in rural Georgia. Kulumbegashvili, born in 1986, uses long takes in her film and combines documentary-like scenes with dream sequences.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:240907-930-226139/3
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