Lebanon wins Venice Golden Lion; Firth best actor
Story by Jack Foley
ISRAELI war film Lebanon has won The Golden Lion, the top award at the Venice Film Festival.
Directed by Samuel Maoz, the film is shot almost entirely inside an Israeli tank against the backdrop of the 1982 invasion of Lebanon and was critically-acclaimed by journalists who attended the festival.
US entertainment magazine Variety hailed it as “the boldest and best” of recent films from Israel about the country’s wars in Lebanon.
Commenting on his prize, visibly moved Maoz said: “I dedicate this award to all those thousands of people all over the world who came back from the war, like me, safe and sound.
“Apparently they are fine. They walk; get married; have children. But inside them, the memories will remain stuck in their souls.”
Firth wins top acting prize
British star Colin Firth was named Best Actor for his portrayal of a mourning professor in A Single Man, which will shortly be seen at the forthcoming London Film Festival
Firth thanked Italy for giving him his wife, Italian producer and documentary-maker Livia Giuggioli.
He also made most of his acceptance speech in Italian, saying: “I am here because of the gift that Tom Ford gave me. He had a very very personal and precious thing, and he trusted me with it. So it became a very important thing for me as well.”
Russian actress Xenia Rappoport was named best actress prize for her role as a chambermaid in first-time director Giuseppe Capotondi’s The Double Hour, a contemporary noir about romance, robbery and murder set around Turin’s speed-dating scene.
Further awards at Venice included, Iranian-born Shirin Neshat, who was named best director for the film Women Without Men, while Turkish-German helmer Fatih Akin’s lighthearted Soul Kitchen, set amid a hip multi-ethnic set in Hamburg, took the Special Jury prize.
The best screenplay prize went to Todd Solondz for his dark comedy Life During Wartime, another film that will appear at the London Film Festival.
But high-profile Italian film Baaria, a Sicilian-based family epic from the director of Cinema Paradiso – and which opened this year’s festival – failed to win any prizes.
The jury of the 66th Venice Film Festival was headed by Taiwanese filmmaker Ang Lee.
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