(Venice) American documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras won the Golden Lion for best film in Venice, thanks to her portrayal of New York artist and activist Nan Goldin in All the Beauty and the Bloodshed. Saint-Omerby Alice Diop, The Banshees of Inisherinby Martin McDonagh, and Bones and Allby Luca Guadagnino, also performed very well, winning two prizes each.
Posted at 2:29 p.m.
Updated at 4:45 p.m.
In the history of major international festivals, you can count on the fingers of one hand the feature documentaries that have won the highest honours. We can also count on the fingers of the other hand the directors who have touched the most beautiful laurels. The name of Laura Poitras is now added to a list that, thank God, is finally starting to grow a little longer. Thanks to All the Beauty and the Bloodshedthe latter is indeed the third director to be awarded at Venice in as many years (Chloé Zhao in 2020 with nomadlandAudrey Diwan in 2021 with The event).
The jury, chaired by Julianne Moore, has chosen to award the highest distinction to the only documentary in the running for the Golden Lion. As a starting point, the film echoes the recent action taken by artist and activist Nan Goldin to denounce the company Purdue Pharma. Owned by the Sackler family, we owe this company, very involved in the world of art, the production of the drug OxyContin on a large scale, despite the highly addictive nature of this painkiller. By retracing the life and career of the artist, who lived his youth in the 1960s and 1970s, Laura Poitras also draws a parallel between the fights of today and those of yesterday, the action of Nan Goldin being strongly inspired by that of the movement Act Up in the midst of the AIDS crisis more than 30 years ago.
“I have met a lot of brave people in my life, but never as many as Nan, declared Laura Poitras, moved, on the stage of the Sala Grande. Not only did she fight hard against a big company like Purdue Pharma, but she also didn’t hesitate to dig in herself to tell all aspects of her life. »
PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE VENICE MOSTRA
Nan Goldin is the artist and activist to whom Laura Poitras devotes her film All the Beauty and the Bloodshed.
The social message ofAll the Beauty and the Bloodshedand the way the filmmaker uses to assert it, touched the members of the jury.
“Laura beautifully told the story of this woman who made art inspired by her marginalization,” said Julianne Moore at a press conference. And who then used this art in his activism. »
Double award-winning films
Two other feature films particularly stood out. In addition to the Grand Jury Prize, Saint-Omer, by Alice Diop, earned the French director the prize for best first film. Having already made its mark in the field of documentaries, in particular thanks to We, Alice Diop put her expertise to good use in this first feature-length fiction film. Inspired by a story of infanticide that made headlines in France a few years ago, the filmmaker offers a drama that is both sober and powerful, which confronts the viewer with their certainties.
“When a documentary wins a prize at a major festival, all documentary filmmakers are delighted,” commented Alice Diop at a press conference, expressing her admiration for Laura Poitras. It indicates that the documentary is part of the cinema, as much as the fiction. »
The Banshees of Inisherin, one of the favorites of festival-goers, won the prize for best screenplay, awarded to Martin McDonagh (who is also directing). It also earned Colin Farrell the Volpi Cup for Best Actor, in a category where there were many good candidates. Held in Los Angeles, the actor was nevertheless able to address the public live.
“What a week we spent in Venice!” he said. This is the second time I’ve worked with Martin [McDonagh] and I think I will thank him for the rest of my life! »
Bones and All, a big favorite of the Italian press, has also won two awards. The prize for directing went to the director of this cannibalistic romance, Luca Guadagnino, and the Marcello Mastroianni prize for best young performer went to Canadian actress Taylor Russell.
Six award-winning films out of 23
The Volpi Cup for Best Actress was awarded to another great star. Cate Blanchett, virtuoso in the role of a conductor in TAR, returned to Venice to pick up her trophy after making a detour to the festival in Telluride, Colorado. First welcoming the direction of the festival for a selection rich in diversity, the actress wanted to pay tribute to Todd Field.
PHOTO GUGLIELMO MANGIAPANE, REUTERS
Actress Cate Blanchett receives the Coppa Volpi award for best actress.
“No actor can receive such an award without the contribution of a good screenplay and an excellent director. That honor belongs to Todd Field. I would also like to thank the Dresden Orchestra, and also all those who make music all over the world by putting their ego aside to put themselves at the service of beauty”.
An ovation was also reserved for Jafar Panahi, imprisoned in Iran, at the announcement of a special jury prize awarded to No Bears, his most recent feature film. The filmmaker puts himself on stage in this work with a more serious tone, shot clandestinely.
“We stand up for the power of cinema,” soberly said Mina Kavani, the Franco-Iranian actress who, with Reza Heydari, who also plays a role in No Bearscame on stage on behalf of the filmmaker.
Having the embarrassment of choice (“We had to agree on the films we wanted to discuss”, said Julianne Moore), the jury finally decided to award only six of the 23 feature films in the running for the Golden Lion . productions like Blonde hair (Andrew Dominick) Athena (Romain Gavras) The Whale (Darren Aronofsky) The Son (Florian Zeller) bardo (or False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths) (Alejandro González Iñárritu) and a few others, all very strong film proposals, could no doubt also have claimed certain honors. But that’s part of the game.
Thanks to this very prestigious award, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, which will be distributed in Quebec by Entract Films (the release date has not yet been set), will now be entitled to increased visibility, something quite rare for a feature-length documentary. So much the better.