French filmmakers are flying high in this extraordinary year for the movies in 2021. Audrey Diwan has picked up the Golden Lion, the Venice International Film Festival's top honor for her second feature, Happening, just a few months after the Palme d'Or at Cannes was awarded to Titane by Julia Ducournau. Check out the complete list of award-winning French films at the 78th Venice Film Festival.
This is the first Golden Lion win for France since The Rickshaw Boy by Trần Anh Hùng in 1995. This award for Happening is the second Golden Lion won by a French female director, after Agnès Varda for Vagabond in 1985.
Happening, produced by Rectangle Productions (and coproduced by France 3 Cinéma, Wild Bunch, and SRAB Films) is sold internationally by Goodfellas. The film tells the story of an abortion case in the 1960s, based on the novel of the same name by Annie Ernaux. It is the second feature by Audrey Diwan (after Losing It), who is also a screenwriter, notably for all of the films directed by Cédric Jimenez.
Two major awards were also given to Full Time by Éric Gravel, produced by Novoprod (and coproduced by France 2 Cinéma and Haut et Court), which was presented in the Orizzonti section: Best Director and Best Actress for Laure Calamy.
Three other awards honored minority-French coproductions: Il buco (coproduced by Société Parisienne de Production), White Building (coproduced by Apsara Films), and Le Grand Mouvement (coproduced by Altamar Films).
And finally, we also hail the incredible triple prize win by the French VR sector, which, through coproductions, is represented in all of the award-winning productions in the Venice VR Competition: Le bal de Paris de Blanca Li (Film Addict), Goliath: Playing With Reality (coproduced by Floréal), and End of Night (coproduced by Novelab).
Awards won by French productions at the 2021 Venice International Film Festival
- Golden Lion: Happening by Audrey Diwan
- Special Jury Prize: Il buco by Michelangelo Frammartino (minority-French coproduction)
- Orizzonti Section - Special Jury Prize: Le Grand Mouvement by Kiro Russo (minority-French coproduction)
- Orizzonti - Best Director: Éric Gravel for Full Time
- Orizzonti - Best Actress: Laure Calamy for Full Time by Éric Gravel
- Orizzonti - Best Actor: Piseth Chhun for White Building by Kavich Neang (minority-French coproduction)
- Jury Grand Prize for Best VR Work: Goliath: Playing With Reality by Barry Gene Murphy, May Abdalla
- Best VR Story: End of Night by David Adler
- Best VR Experience: Le bal de Paris de Blanca Li by Blanca Li
