'Nomadland' takes first prize at Venice Film Festival
September 12, 2020
Chinese-born director Chloe Zhao has become the first woman in a decade to win the coveted Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. The event was widely seen as a relaunch of global cinema amid the coronavirus crisis.
Zhao and McDormand accepted the award from the United States by video, with travel restrictions imposed during the coronavirus crisis making it difficult or even impossible for guests from the US to get to Venice for the event.
The Silver Lion for best director went to Kiyoshi Kurosawa of Japan for Wife of a Spy and the Silver Lion grand jury prize was awarded to Mexico's Michel Franco for Nuevo Orden, a dystopian drama.
In other prizes, Italy's Pierfrancesco Fabino won best lead actor for Padrenostro (Our Father), a coming-of-age drama set in the Italy of the 1970s. The award for best lead actress went to Britain's Vanessa Kirby for Pieces of a Woman about a woman grieving for the death of her newborn daughter during a home birth.
Vanessa Kirby received the Coppa Volpi for best lead actressImage: Reuters/G. Mangiapane
Andrei Konchalovsky of Russia received a special jury prize for Dear Comrades! The film, about the massacre of striking workers in Novocherkassk in 1962, had been considered one of the favorites for the top prize.
The Venice festival was the first major international movie competition to take place this year after others were canceled, including the renowned Cannes Film Festival. The city decided to go ahead with it just months after the region had been one of the worst-hit by the coronavirus pandemic in Europe.
However, the event was far more low-key than in former years, with only half the usual number of people attending and anti-coronavirus measures in place. Despite these, organizers said they were pleased at the diversity on display, with 50 different countries represented.
Eight of the films in the main competition for the top prize were directed by women, a trend many hope will continue after much criticism of the lack of gender diversity at many major festivals.
The festival is seen as a barometer for the Oscars later in the year.
From Marx to Greta: Highlights of the 2020 Venice Film Festival
Venice is the first major film festival to take place during the pandemic. Fewer films from Hollywood are represented, so the selection is more diverse than usual.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/C. Onorati
Italian infidelity drama opens the festival
For the first time in more than a decade, an Italian film receives the honor of opening the Venice International Film Festival: The drama "Lacci" will be screened out of competition and depicts the story of a marriage threatened by infidelity. Directed by Daniele Luchetti, it is based on the 2014 novel of the same name by Domenico Starnone.
Image: Biennale/Gianni Fiorito
4 titles from Italy in the run
This year's film festival on Venice's barrier island of Lido feels distinctly Italian: Four of the 18 films competing for the top prize of Golden Lion are from the country. For example, "Padrenostro" (pictured here) by director Claudio Noce is about the political terrorism and violence that shook Italy in the 1970s, told from perspective of a child.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo
Germany's antifa in the spotlight
A German film is competing for the Golden Lion in Venice: "And Tomorrow the Entire World" by director Julia von Heinz is about the young anti-fascist activist Luisa, who uses increasingly radical means of defense against society's shift to the right. Luisa is played by rising star Mala Emde, shown in the image here.
Image: La Biennale di Venezia
A German-Polish production in the run
His hands seem to work wonders: In "Never Gonna Snow Again," actor Alec Utgoff plays the role of Ukrainian migrant Zhenia, who works as a masseur for the Warsaw upper class and develops into a kind of guru for the unhappy rich. The Polish contender in Venice is also in the race for the Oscar in the category best international feature film.
Image: LavaFilms MatchFactory Productions
Historical biopic: 'Miss Marx'
In recent years, there has been strong criticism of the lack of equality in the film nominations, but this year, eight of the 18 films are by women directors. One of them is Susanna Nicchiarelli's historical biopic "Miss Marx" about the life of Karl Marx' youngest daughter, Eleanor Marx. The political activist is played by Romola Garai.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/E. Scarpa
Hollywood's contribution: 'Nomadland'
"Nomadland" tells the tale of a woman in her 60s who loses everything during the Great Recession of the 2000s and ends up traveling in a van through the western United States as a kind of modern nomad. It is a film with a top-class cast, with lead character Fern played by the two-time Oscar winner Frances McDormand. Parallel to Venice, the film is also celebrating its premiere in Toronto.
Streaming servicers and film festivals — a tricky business. The Cannes Film Festival banned Netflix, Amazon and other such productions, but they are welcome in Venice. Streamer Hulu is presenting its documentary "Greta." Director Nathan Grossman (2nd from left) accompanied climate activist Greta Thunberg (2nd from right) for months — even during her crossing of the Atlantic in August 2019.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/B. Hermann
Cate Blanchett leads the jury
This year's jury is chaired by Cate Blanchett, who was awarded Best Actress in Venice in 2007 for her role in "I'm Not There." Along with her, directors Veronika Franz, Joanna Hogg and Christian Petzold, actors Matt Dillon and Ludivine Sagnier and author Nicola Lagioia will decide which film will receive the coveted Golden Lion.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/J. Tallis
Honorary prize for Ann Hui and Tilda Swinton
The first prize winners were announced before the festival's start on September 2: The Chinese actress and director Ann Hui and the British Oscar award winner Tilda Swinton were each awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement. This honorary award has been in existence since 1970, when the first winner was none other than Orson Welles. (Adapted by Louisa Schaefer)
