On September 12, the winners of the 77th Venice International Film Festival were awarded.

The ceremony took place in the large hall of the Cinema Palace on the island of Lido.

The ceremony was hosted by actress Anna Folletta, who is familiar to Russian audiences for her role as Carlotta in the film Ideal Strangers.

The event was opened by a video with the performance of the poet and screenwriter Mariangela Gualtieri.

She read an excerpt from a poem Nove marzo duemilaventi (March 9, 2020), dedicated to the introduction of restrictive measures due to the coronavirus in Italy.

The Italian musician Antonio Diodato also performed at the ceremony.

He performed one of the hits of his repertoire - the composition Adesso.

The main prize, "The Golden Lion", went to the film "Land of the Nomads".

Davide Romani, Marketing Director of Disney Italy, received the award from the President of the Festival, Alberto Cicutto.

Director Chloe Zhao and starring Frances McDormand acted via video link.

They thanked the real American nomads - people living in vans and moving around the country - who allowed them to film their life and helped in the work on the picture.

The grand prix of the jury was taken by the director of the film "New Order" Michel Franco.

The title of the best director was awarded to Kiyoshi Kurosawa.

He received the Silver Lion for The Spy's Wife.

Historical drama by Andrei Konchalovsky "Dear comrades!"

was awarded with a special jury prize.

Konchalovsky thanked his wife, actress Julia Vysotskaya for inspiration, expressed gratitude to producer Alisher Usmanov, who gave him creative freedom.

  • Reuters

  • © Guglielmo Mangiapane

The Volpi Cup was awarded to Pierfrancesco Favino (Our Father) and Vanessa Kirby (she starred in the Canadian-Hungarian film Fragments of a Woman).

In the story, the heroine Kirby lost her baby during childbirth.

The actress dedicated the award to parents who have experienced a similar loss.

The best screenwriter of the show was named Chaitanya Tamhane, a native of India, who at the same time directed the film "The Disciple".

The Marcello Mastroianni Prize for Young Actors went to Iranian actor Roolah Zamani, who starred in Majid Majidi's drama Sunny Children.

VR at a distance and new "Horizons"

The award for work in virtual reality via video link was presented by Celine Tricar.

As a reminder, this year the section was held online.

The Best Immersive Story award went to Chinese director Fan Fan's Killing a superstar. 

Finding Pandora X by Kiira Benzing won the Best Immersive Experience nomination.

The best film in the section was The Hangman at Home, directed by spouses Uri and Michelle Kranot.

The Luigi de Laurentiis Lion of the Future Award was presented to the director of the film Listen, Ana Rocha de Souza.

The director also received a special jury prize for the Horizons program.

The best short film in Horizons was named Entre Tú y Milagros (Between You and Milagros) by Mariana Saffon.

The award for the best screenplay was taken by Pietro Castellitto, who directed the comedy "Predators".

The best male role, according to the section jury, was performed by Yahya Mahaini in the film "The Man Who Sold His Skin", where Monica Bellucci also starred.

The film was co-produced by Tunisia, France, Belgium, Germany and Sweden.

It was directed and written by Tunisian production director Kauter Ben Chania.

  • Vanessa Kirby

  • Reuters

  • © Guglielmo Mangiapane

Kansa Batma received a similar female award for her role in the film Contact Zanka. 

The Best Director of Horizons was the Filipino director Love Diaz, who presented the film Chimpanzee.

The main prize of the program was awarded to "Wasteland" by Ahmad Bahrami.

Earlier it became known that British actress Tilda Swinton and Hong Kong director Anne Hui received honorary prizes for contributions to world cinema. 

The Venice Festival was held from 2 to 12 September on the island of Lido.

This year, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the competition program was cut (18 films against 21 last year).

Also, the organizers have decided to cancel the Sconfini section ("No Borders") so that more screenings can be held within other programs.

In the parallel program of auteur films "Days of Venice", the winner is the film "Whaleman" by Russian director Philip Yuriev.

Among her competitors was the film by Ivan I. Tverdovsky "Conference".

Yuriev and Tverdovsky studied together at VGIK, in the workshop of Alexei Uchitel.