Director of the Venice film festival Alberto Barbera, from left, Jury members Cynthia Erivo, Alexander Nanau, Bong Joon Ho, JVirginie Efira, Chloe Zhao, Sarah Gadon and Saverio Costanzo pose for photographers upon arrival at the closing ceremony of the 78th edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021.
Audrey Diwan holds the Golden Lion award for ‘Happening’ onstage at the closing ceremony during the 78th edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021.
Audrey Diwan holds the Golden Lion award for ‘Happening’ onstage at the closing ceremony during the 78th edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021.
Paolo Sorrentino holds the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize for ‘The Hand Of God’ onstage at the closing ceremony during the 78th edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021.
Jane Campion holds the Silver Lion Best Director award for ‘The Power Of The Dog’ onstage at the closing ceremony during the 78th edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021.
Paolo Sorrentino holds the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize for ‘The Hand Of God’ onstage at the closing ceremony during the 78th edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021.
Paolo Sorrentino holds the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize for ‘The Hand Of God’ onstage at the closing ceremony during the 78th edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021.
Penelope Cruz kisses the Coppa Volpi Best Actress award for ‘Parallel Mothers’ onstage at the closing ceremony during the 78th edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021.
Audrey Diwan’s “L’Evenement” (“Happening”) has won the Golden Lion at the 78th Venice International Film Festival. The Silver Lion went to Paolo Sorrentino’s “The Hand of God.”
Diwan’s film about a French college student who finds herself with an unwanted pregnancy on a search for an abortion was the unanimous choice from the prestigious jury that included recent Oscar winners Bong Joon Ho and Chloé Zhao.
The competition this year was robust, including well-received films like Jane Campion’s “The Power of the Dog,” Pedro Almodóvar’s “Parallel Mothers,” Maggie Gyllenhaal’s “The Lost Daughter” and “The Hand of God.” Twenty-one films were vying for the prize, which has become a promising early indicator of a film’s Oscars prospects.
“I did this movie with anger. I did the movie with desire also. I did it with my belly, my guts, my heart, my head,” Diwan said Saturday. “I wanted “Happening” to be an experience.”
Diwan is the sixth woman to have directed a Golden Lion winning film. Others include Chloé Zhao (“Nomadland”), Margarethe Von Trotta (“Marianne & Juliane”), Agnès Varda (“Vagabond”), Mira Nair (“Monsoon Wedding) and Sofia Coppola (“Somewhere”).
Sorrentino took the runner up prize, the Silver Lion, for his semi-autobiographical film “The Hand of God,” while Campion won the Silver Lion for best director for her period epic “The Power of her Dog.” It’s her second time winning a runner-up prize at Venice. Her first was in 1990 for “An Angel at My Table,” a Janet Frame biopic.
