Venice 83 closes with a Golden Lion for the only woman director in competition

The 83rd Venice Film Festival closed with the Golden Lion going to Kvinde Ukendt (Woman Unknown), directed by Danish filmmaker May el-Toukhy, according to Il Post and Quotidiano Nazionale. The film was the only one in the main competition directed by a woman, a detail both outlets flag as a distinctive feature of this edition.

The jury also awarded the winning film the Coppa Volpi for best actress, going to Mathilde Arcel, the film’s lead. The men’s Coppa Volpi went instead to John Malkovich. Both sources describe it as rare for the same film to win both the top prize and an acting award, a circumstance that is not the norm in the festival’s history.

The Silver Lion for best director went to Russia’s Ilya Khrzhanovsky for DAU, a work the sources describe as experimental. The coexistence in the winners’ list of a realist narrative film like el-Toukhy’s and a radically experimental project like DAU gives a sense of the breadth of vision behind the 2026 selection.

Alongside the competitive awards, the Biennale bestowed its honorary recognitions: the Golden Lion for lifetime achievement went to George Clooney and Ellen Burstyn, according to ANSA and Spazio50. The Cartier Glory to the Filmmaker Award went to Luca Guadagnino, while the Campari Passion for Film Award went to Serena Rossi.

On attendance, ANSA and Spazio50 report that the 2026 Festival sold 117,656 tickets, 14% more than the 2025 edition. This figure rounds out the balance sheet for the edition: a festival growing in paying audience in the year its top prize went, for the first time, to the sole woman director in competition.