Venice Film Festival Announces Winners: Film about Euthanasia Takes Top Prize
On 7 September, the winners of the 81st Venice International Film Festival were awarded. The main prize went to the film about euthanasia by Spanish director Pedro Almodovar, The Room Next Door.
This was reported on the film festival's website.
The Golden Lion, the festival's main award, was presented to the 74-year-old director of The Room Next Door, whose main themes are the climate crisis and euthanasia, the termination of life in a quick and painless way. The film stars British actress Tilda Swinton and American Julianne Moore.
In the film, Swinton's character is a war correspondent with terminal cancer. The woman turns to her old friend, played by Julianne Moore, with a request to be by her side while she takes her own life.
According to The Guardian, during the film's premiere in Venice, the applause lasted for 18 minutes in a row.
According to Pedro Almodovar, for whom The Room Next Door was his English-language debut, the film emphasised the value of life. At the same time, the film emphasised the need for everyone to have the right to choose when to die.
Pedro also noted the contribution of Swinton and Moore, whom he thanked for playing the lead roles.
‘This award really belongs to them, it's a film about two women, Julianne and Tilda,’ he explained.
According to the jury chairman Isabelle Huppert, the film raises important issues without melodrama.
Another award for Best Actress went to Nicole Kidman for her performance in the erotic film Babygirl. Her character is an influential CEO who risks her career and family to start an affair with a younger intern.
Shortly before the award ceremony, Kidman received the news of her mother's death, so she did not appear to receive the award in person.
‘My heart is broken, I need to be with my family. This award is for her (her mother) - she shaped me, guided me and created me,’ reads the letter that was read out on behalf of the actress at the film award.
French director Vincent Lindon won the award for Best Actor for his film The Quiet Son. The French film is based on a family torn apart by the ideas of extreme right-wing radicalism.
The award for Best Director went to American Brady Corbet for The Brutalist, which tells the story of a Hungarian architect played by Adrien Brody who survived the Holocaust and seeks to rebuild his life in the United States.
The prize for Best Screenplay went to Murilo Hauser and Heitor Lorega for their film I'm Still Here, about the military dictatorship in Brazil. The jury awarded a special prize to the abortion drama April by Georgian director Dea Kulumbegashvili.
As The Gaze previously reported, this year's Venice International Film Festival hosted an artistic event aimed at drawing attention to the Ukrainian civilian population and prisoners of war held by the aggressor country Russia.
The event was organised by the team of the documentary Songs of a Slowly Burning Land directed by Olha Zhurba. Her film had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival. The participants of the action wore embroidered shirts depicting the distance from the island of Lido, where the festival is taking place, to the eight places of detention where Russians are holding Ukrainians.