Danish-Egyptian director Mai El-Tukey's film "Woman Unknown" won the Golden Lion at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival. The historical drama, a co-production between Denmark, Sweden and Latvia, stood out in the official competition, winning over audiences and critics, while its star Malthide Arcel also took the best actress award.
Accepting the Golden Lion, El-Tukey emphasized the film's themes, saying that for her personally, "Woman Unknown" is about the female body as a battleground and a public matter. She added that the film speaks about women who are invisible, unseen and without a voice.
Set in the period after World War Two, the film tells the story of a Danish domestic worker preparing to marry her wealthy employer, when a previous relationship with a German soldier threatens to destroy her future.
A gender imbalance in competition
The win carries added significance because El-Tukey was the only female director of a fiction film among the 21 contenders for the Golden Lion. Only one other film in competition, the documentary "NAZA", had a woman co-director, Rachel Szor, with the imbalance becoming one of the festival's biggest talking points from its opening. El-Tukey described it as a systemic problem in the film industry, noting it took her six or seven years to make her first film after graduating from film school.
At her film's press conference, she said she would of course like to have more female colleagues alongside her in competition, commenting on this year's Venice lineup. She added that after the MeToo movement there had been greater awareness around inequality, but that in her view recent years have seen a return to old patterns, saying the industry needs to do better.
Silver Lion and other top prizes
The Grand Jury Prize, the Silver Lion, went to South Korean director Lee Chang-dong for "Possible Love", his first fiction feature since 2018's "Burning". The film, which is also South Korea's official Oscar submission, deals with work, social alienation and human dignity amid rapid technological change, weaving together the stories of two couples with a documentary about workers who lost their jobs.
Lee thanked everyone who helped bring the film to completion, saying that without the waiting and patience of so many people, the film would never have reached the world. He said that at a time when work is disappearing and relationships between people are being severed, he made the film to ask what cinema can do and what cinema should do, and that he would take the award as a message to keep asking that question.
The documentary "NAZA", by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, won the Special Jury Prize. The film is built on anonymous testimony from Israeli soldiers and intelligence officers and includes serious allegations about the conduct of the war in Gaza, revealing how technological systems and artificial intelligence were used to locate and bomb civilians in their homes.
Abraham said after the award that the people who spoke to the filmmakers described the mass civilian losses as systemic, not accidental, but designed. He added that in his view, denial of a crime is what allows it to continue. The film received a 25-minute standing ovation at its premiere, one of the most striking audience reactions of this year's Venice festival, and a record for the longest ovation in the festival's history.
Directing, screenplay and acting awards
The directing award went to Ilya Khrzhanovsky for "DAU", starring internationally renowned conductor Teodor Currentzis and featuring Maria Nafpliotou in a small but striking role. The Russian director had worked on the ambitious and highly unusual production for roughly two decades. The screenplay award went to Stephane Brize, Coralie Amedeo and Olivier Gorce for the French film "A Good Little Soldier".
John Malkovich won best actor for his performance in Martin McDonagh's "Wild Horse Nine", playing an unconventional CIA agent in a turn that had already generated strong interest on the Lido and, according to reviews, is expected to figure in Oscar nominations conversations.
Greek winners
Jacqueline Lentzou won the directing award in the Orizzonti section for her second feature, "A Day in the Life of Jo: Phaedra Chapter". Visibly moved, she spoke about the importance of making independent cinema today and thanked the jury for recognizing the risk she took in making the film.
She said she had not prepared an acceptance speech and would speak from the heart about how increasingly difficult it has become for those who want to make free, independent cinema. She explained the film was inspired by a real event in her home city of Athens, when a police officer killed a 15-year-old boy for no reason, referencing the killing of Alexandros Grigoropoulos. She ended by saying: "Stop killing children."
"A Day in the Life of Jo: Phaedra Chapter" competed in this year's Orizzonti section, dedicated to new trends and pioneering voices in contemporary world cinema, alongside 18 other films from around the world. It is a coming-of-age drama with metaphysical elements, telling a story of growing up violently interrupted, drawn from the harsh realism of life.
The film also received the Edipo Re 2026 Inclusion and Sustainability Award, given by an independent jury to films that take an inclusive and sustainable approach on both a human and environmental level.
Finally, "Our Share of Sand" by Sailini Adnani, co-produced by Giorgos Karnavas of Heretic, which took part in the Critics' Week program, won the People's Choice Award as well as a Special Mention for Best Direction and Screenplay in the Authors Under 40 category.
