VENICE, Italy (AP) “The Room Next Door” Pedro Almodóvar's English-language debut “The Prisoner of Azkaban,” starring Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton, topped the Venice Film Festival on Saturday, winning the Golden Lion award.
Nicole Kidman is A graphic and explicit portrayal of the CEO In “Baby Girl,” she was embroiled in an affair with an intern, but was unable to attend the wedding due to the death of her mother.
“Shortly after arriving in Venice, I learned that my beautiful and brave mother, Janelle Anne Kidman, had passed away,” Kidman said in a statement read on her behalf by her “Babygirl” director, Halina Raine. “I am shocked and must be with my family, but I dedicate this award to my mother…. She shaped me and gave birth to me.”
The 81st festival closed on Saturday, with a jury led by Isabelle Huppert bestowing the top prize on Brady Corbet, director of the 215-minute post-war epic “The Brutalist,” and Vincent Lindon, star of “The Silent Son,” in which Lindon plays a single father whose son is radicalized by the far-right.
The runner-up, the Silver Lion, went to Maura Delpero's “Vermiglio,” an Italian-French-Belgian drama set in the final year of World War II about a refugee soldier who happens to meet a large family.
Almodovar's award came after he received a nearly 20-minute standing ovation for his film, a meditation on friendship and death. The Spanish director is a favorite at the Venice Film Festival, having premiered many of his films there over the past four decades.
“I want to dedicate this film to my family,” Almodóvar said. “It's my first film in English, but it's Spanish in spirit.”
Colbert, whose film “The Brutalist” is about an architect and Holocaust survivor trying to rebuild their life in America, attended the ceremony with a statement to read at the event, at the urging of his wife, who is also a filmmaker.
Halina Rain accepts the Volpi Cup for Best Actress for the film “Baby Girl” on stage at the 81st Venice International Film Festival at Sala Grande in Venice, Italy on September 7, 2024. (Vittorio Zunino Celot/Getty Images)
“This is all very overwhelming. … Brevity is not my forte,” Corbett said. “Thank you for not chastising me for the length.”
The Venice Film Festival used its closing film slot to present the world premiere of Kevin Costner's Horizon: Chapter 2 of an American Saga, which was screened outside of competition.
Many of the 21 competitive titles were controversial, with passionate supporters and detractors.
“I have good news for you all,” Happert said at the ceremony, “the movie business is booming.”
Among the festival's competition titles that drew the most attention were Todd Phillips' “Joker: Folie à deux,” a non-musical starring Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga, Pablo Larraín's Maria Callas film “Maria,” starring famed soprano Angelina Jolie, and Luca Guadagnino's William S. Burroughs adaptation “Queer,” starring Daniel Craig as a drug-addicted foreigner who becomes obsessed with a young student.
Five years ago, the Venice Film Festival jury stunned the cinema world with its Golden Lion award for “Joker,” which went on to win best actor for Phoenix, and last year “Poor Things” and the year before that the documentary “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” won the top prize.
The Luigi De Laurentiis Award for debut went to Sarah Friedland's “Familiar Touch,” which tells the story of an octogenarian woman transitioning to life in a care home while struggling with her age, her memory and her relationship with her caregivers. Friedland also won the Horizons award for best director, while lead actress Kathleen Chalfant won best actress.
Always a staple on the international film festival scene, Venice has cemented its reputation as a major launch pad for awards campaigns over the past 12 years. Since 2014, Venice has seen four films win the Best Picture award (Birdman, Spotlight, The Shape of Water and Nomadland) and spawned 19 nominations. With the fall movie season in full swing, there's already talk of possible nominations for Kidman and Jolie in the Best Actress category, Craig in the Best Actor category and Gaga in the Best Supporting Actress category.
This year's festival has recovered from last year's disruptions caused by strikes, with some truly A-list stars returning to the Lido to celebrate films in and out of competition. George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Ethan Hawke and Sigourney Weaver lent their star power to the event.
And many people responded to the opportunity. fashionGaga's Christian Dior gown, teamed with a vintage Philip Treacy lace headpiece, made for some of the best red carpet moments, as did Kidman's figure-hugging Schiaparelli dress, Blanchett's Armani Privé dress with cascading pearl necklaces down her back, and Jolie's fur stole. Rachel Weisz and Daniel Craig also played the power couple, she in a glittering blue Versace gown and he in a cream Loewe suit. Cast of “Beetlejuice” Their merchandise also reflects the aesthetic of the film.
