Venice 83: the Golden Lion goes to "Woman Unknown", Japanese cinema sweeps the collateral awards

The morning did not cover the Film & Entertainment section: the news concerns the outcome of the 83rd Venice International Film Festival, held at the Lido from September 2 to 12, 2026 under the direction of Alberto Barbera. The Golden Lion went to the film “Woman Unknown” by Danish director May el-Toukhy, awarded by the international jury chaired by Maggie Gyllenhaal during the ceremony on Saturday, September 12. On September 14, the 2026 Pasinetti Awards were also presented by the Italian National Union of Film Journalists (Wikipedia/Corriere della Sera; La Biennale di Venezia).

Alongside the main list of winners, this edition saw a strong presence of Japanese cinema among the independent awards. The film “Look Back” by Hirokazu Kore-eda, based on the manga by Tatsuki Fujimoto, won three official independent awards. Director Shinya Tsukamoto won the Leoncino d’oro, awarded by a jury of twenty high school students, for a film about Vietnamese war veterans. The Cinema & Arti Award was shared between “Look Back” and a film by Takashi Miike. On this part of the winners’ list, the news currently comes from a single source (映画ナタリー/Eiga Natalie); no independent confirmation is available (Eiga Natalie).

The international picture is completed by the Grand Jury Prize, awarded to a Netflix film directed by South Korean director Lee Chang-dong, and by the best actor award, given to John Malkovich for “Wild Horse Nine”.

What we don’t know

The sources do not provide the complete composition of the independent jury nor the official rationale for each award: these remain unverifiable details based on the available excerpts.

The list of winners remains, to date, the one announced between September 12 and 14.