email print share on Facebook share on Twitter share on LinkedIn share on reddit pin on Pinterest

VENICE 2006 Awards

Resnais, Crialese and Frears win top honours

by 

French veteran auteur Alain Resnais was awarded the Silver Lion for Best Director for Private Fears in Public Places [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
at the 63rd Venice International Film Festival, an edition that will be remembered not only for the unexpected Golden Lion for Jia Zhang-Ke's Still Life but also for the other prizes recognizing European talent.

Still Life was the surprise film at this year’s festival that actually did take everyone by surprise, not only because the Chinese production was not among the audience’s most appreciated competition titles but also because director Jia Zhang-Ke was present in Venice with a documentary entitled Dong, in the Horizons sidebar section. It is not, however, the first time a surprise film has won a top prize: in 2004 Kim Ki-duk's 3-Iron won the Director's Special Award.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

Along with Resnais, the biggest European achievement of the night was a new unprecedented Silver Lion Revelation given to Italian filmmaker Emanuele Crialese for his immigration drama The Golden Door [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alexandre Mallet-Guy
interview: Charlotte Gainsbourg
interview: Emanuele Crialese
interview: Emanuele Crialese
interview: Fabrizio Mosca
film profile
]
(see news). The Special Jury Prize went to Mahamat-Saleh Haroum's Dry Season [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
(see news).

Stephen Frears' acclaimed comedy The Queen [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Andy Harries
interview: Stephen Frears
film profile
]
(see news) received the Osella for Best Screenplay (Peter Morgan) and Helen Mirren's Coppa Volpi winner-performance as Elizabeth II was certainly the most consensual prize of the night. The two other performance prizes, however, may divide opinions: Ben Affleck won the Coppa Volpi for best actor and The Untouchable [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
leading actress Isild Le Besco received the Marcello Mastroianni Award for best promising actor.

The Luigi De Laurentiis Award, also known as Lion of the Future, went to the Belgian/Dutch/German co-production Khadak [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jessica Woodworth
interview: Jessica Woodworth
film profile
]
by Peter Brosens and Jessica Woodworth, while the Lion for the Best Short Film was given to Comment on freine dans une descente? by French director Alix Delaporte.

List of winners List of winners

Golden Lion for Best Film
Still Life by Jia Zhang-Ke

Silver Lion for Best Director
Alain Resnais for Private Fears in Public Places [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]

Silver Lion Revelation
Emanuele Crialese for The Golden Door [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alexandre Mallet-Guy
interview: Charlotte Gainsbourg
interview: Emanuele Crialese
interview: Emanuele Crialese
interview: Fabrizio Mosca
film profile
]

Jury Special Prize
Dry Season by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun

Coppa Volpi for Best Actor
Ben Affleck - Hollywoodland

Coppa Volpi for Best Actress
Hellen Mirren - The Queen [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Andy Harries
interview: Stephen Frears
film profile
]

Special Lion for innovation in the Language of cinema
Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huilet

Marcello Mastroianni Award Best Promising Actor/Actress
Isild Le Besco - The Untouchable [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]

Osella for Best Technical Contribution
Emmanuel Lubezki - Director of Photography of Children of Men

Osella for Best Script
Peter Morgan - The Queen [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Andy Harries
interview: Stephen Frears
film profile
]

Luigi De Laurentis Award- First film
Khadak by Peter Brosens and Jessica Woodworth

Horizons

Horizons Prize
Mabei Shang de fating by Liu Jie

Horizons Documentary Prize
When the Leeves Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts by Spike Lee

Corto Cortissimo

Best Short Film Award
Comment on freine dans une descente? by Alix Delaporte

UIP Award for Best European Short Film
Eva reste au placard les nuits de pleine lune by Alex Stockman

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

Did you enjoy reading this article? Please subscribe to our newsletter to receive more stories like this directly in your inbox.

Privacy Policy