For her first fiction film after fifteen years devoted to documentaries, filmmaker Alice Diop has achieved a magnificent double by winning the Lion of the Future and the Silver Lion (Grand Jury Prize) at the 79th Venice Film Festival for Saint Omer, produced by SRAB Films and sold internationally by Goodfellas.
Discover all the awards received by French cinema during the 79th edition of the Venice Film Festival.
It was with great emotion that Alice Diop, a filmmaker revealed to the general public in 2021 by her documentary We, and selected among Unifrance's10 to Watch 2022, mounted the Sala Grande stage twice at the Venice Film Festival to accept her two fine awards received for Saint Omer, immediately establishing her on the international scene.
Referring to Audre Lorde, a black poet whose collection Sister Outsider was the filmmaker's bedside book during the making of the film, Alice Diop evoked the phrase "Our silence will not protect us" before adding, in her own name, "We will not be silent anymore."
A real life story that hit the headlines was the trigger for this debut fiction feature, and it was Audrey Diwan, winner of the Golden Lion in 2021 for Happening, who presented Diop with the Silver Lion alongside Jury president Julianne Moore.
Other awards for French cinema
Snow in September by Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir, a short film produced by Aurora Films, received the Orizzonti Award for Best Short Film.
Among the other films awarded, the minority-French coproduction Anhell69 (Dublin Films) won three prizes at the Semaine de la Critique.
Last but not least, Sébastien Lifshitz, who presented his latest documentary Casa Susanna at the Giornate degli Autori, received the Queer Lion Award Career Achievement.
French films in the Official Selection awards list
- Silver Lion (Grand Jury Prize): Saint Omer by Alice Diop
- Lion of the Future "Luigi De Laurentiis" Venice Award: Saint Omer by Alice Diop
- Orizzonti Award for Best Screenplay: Fernando Guzzoni for Blanquita by Fernando Guzzoni
- Orizzonti Award for Best Short Film: Snow in September by Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir
- Orizzonti Extra Armani Beauty Audience Award: Nezouh by Soudade Kaadan
Click here for the full awards list of the 79th Venice Film Festival.
French films in the Semaine de la Critique awards list
- Mario Serandrei Award: Anhell69 by Theo Montoya
- Circolo del Cinema di Verona Award: Anhell69 by Theo Montoya
- Jury Special Mention: Anhell69 by Theo Montoya
Click here for the full awards list of the 37th Semaine International de la Critique.
French films in the Giornate degli Autori awards list
- Label Europa Cinema: Dirty, Difficult, Dangerous by Wissam Charaf
- Best Director: Cláudia Varejão for Wolf and Dog by Cláudia Varejão
- Authors Under 40 Award dedicated to director Valentina Pedicini, Special Mention: Adila Bendimerad for The Last Queen (codirected by Damien Ounouri)
Click here for the full awards list of the Giornate degli Autori 2022
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