Danish filmmaker May el-Toukhy’s post-war drama Woman Unknown won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival on Saturday, with its star Mathilde Arcel also taking the best actress award in a rare double victory.
El-Toukhy was the only woman to solely direct a feature film in the 21-film main competition, a disparity that drew criticism during the festival and renewed scrutiny of the barriers facing women in cinema.
Set in the aftermath of World War Two, Woman Unknown follows a housemaid played by Arcel whose past relationship with a German soldier threatens to destroy her future.
The film is set against the backdrop of a newly liberated Denmark, where women accused of fraternising with occupying German forces were often subjected to vigilante justice.
"To me personally, 'Woman Unknown' is about the female body as a battleground and a public matter. And at the same time, the film tells the tale of women who are invisible, unseen, and voiceless," el-Toukhy said in her acceptance speech.
South Korean filmmaker Lee Chang-dong took the runner-up Silver Lion for Possible Love, while Russian-born filmmaker Ilya Khrzhanovsky won best director for DAU, an ambitious project shot largely in Ukraine before the ongoing war that has attracted intense scrutiny and controversy.
Khrzhanovsky, who has renounced his Russian citizenship and is a fierce critic of Moscow, dedicated his prize to Ukraine.
John Malkovich was named best actor for his performance as an ageing, maverick CIA agent in Martin McDonagh’s comedy Wild Horse Nine.
"I am humbled to be chosen for this award which has been given to so many wonderful actors," Malkovich said via videolink from Canada, where he is shooting a new project.
The Venice festival marks the start of the awards season and regularly produces major favourites for the Oscars.
However, many of the big studio-backed contenders that once crowded the Venice schedule were absent this year as Hollywood reconsiders how to market its films and cut costs.
The festival’s programme also focused heavily on global politics and social upheaval, including NAZA, a documentary by Israeli directors Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor that won the Special Jury Prize.
Based on anonymous interviews with 24 Israeli intelligence officers and soldiers, the film accuses the Israeli military of routinely approving mass civilian deaths when targeting militants in the Gaza Strip. Israel has denied the charge.
The documentary received a record 25-minute standing ovation at its premiere on Thursday, the second year in succession that a film about Gaza has resonated at Venice after The Voice of Hind Rajab, a true-life account of the killing of a Palestinian girl during the war.
"The Israeli intelligence officers we spoke with talked to us about how this mass killing is systemic, not by accident, but by design," Abraham said on Saturday. "We believe that the denial of a crime is what helps it persist."
Stephane Brize, Coralie Amedeo and Olivier Gorce received the screenplay award for the French workplace drama A Good Little Soldier, while Malou Khebizi was named best emerging young actor for her role in the French production A Place to Heal.
Festival director Alberto Barbera has defended the male-dominated line-up, saying selection decisions were based on artistic merit rather than quotas and urging the industry to do more to help women break into the business.
El-Toukhy said female filmmakers continued to face greater difficulties securing financing, limiting budgets, casting opportunities and ultimately access to major festivals.
The head of the main jury, US actor and director Maggie Gyllenhaal, has also raised concerns about the issue, but rejected any suggestion that the Golden Lion had been awarded on gender grounds.
"I just want to celebrate a brilliantly made movie that I felt was like a laser beam," she told reporters.