Golden Lion

Golden LionLeone d'oro (Italian)LocationVeniceCountryItalyPresented byVenice Film FestivalFormerly calledGolden Lion of Saint Mark (1949-1953)First award1949Currently held byThe Room Next Door (2024)Websitelabiennale.org/cinema

The Golden Lion (Italian: Leone d'oro) is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is regarded as one of the film industry's most prestigious and distinguished prizes.[1] In 1970, the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement was introduced, an honorary prize for people who have made an important contribution to cinema.

The prize was introduced in 1949 as the Golden Lion of Saint Mark (which was one of the best known symbols of the ancient Republic of Venice).[2] In 1954, the prize was permanently named the Golden Lion.

The first Golden Lion was awarded in 1949. Previously, the equivalent prize was the Gran Premio Internazionale di Venezia (Grand International Prize of Venice), awarded in 1947 and 1948. No Golden Lions were awarded between 1969 and 1979. According to the Biennale's official website, the hiatus was a result of the 1968 Lion being given to the radically experimental Die Artisten in der Zirkuskuppel: Ratlos; the website says that the awards "still had a statute dating back to the fascist era and could not side-step the general political climate. Sixty-eight produced a dramatic fracture with the past".[3] Fourteen French films have been awarded the Golden Lion, more than to any other nation. However, there is considerable geographical diversity in the winners. Eight American filmmakers have won the Golden Lion, with awards for John Cassavetes and Robert Altman (both times the awards were shared with other winners who tied), as well as Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain was the first winning U.S. film not to tie), Darren Aronofsky, Sofia Coppola, Todd Phillips, Chloé Zhao, and Laura Poitras.

Although prior to 1980, only three of 21 winners were of non-European origin, since the 1980s, the Golden Lion has been presented to a number of Asian filmmakers, particularly in comparison to the Cannes Film Festival's top prize, the Palme d'Or, which has only been awarded to five Asian filmmakers since 1980. The Golden Lion, by contrast, has been awarded to ten Asians during the same time period, with two of these filmmakers winning it twice. Ang Lee won the Golden Lion twice within three years during the 2000s, once for an American film and once for a Chinese-language film. Zhang Yimou has also won twice. Other Asians to win the Golden Lion since 1980 include Jia Zhangke, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Tsai Ming-liang, Trần Anh Hùng, Takeshi Kitano, Kim Ki-duk, Jafar Panahi, Mira Nair, and Lav Diaz. Russian filmmakers have won the Golden Lion several times, including since the end of the USSR.

To date, 33 of the 54 winners were European men (including Soviet/Russian winners). Since 1949, only seven women have won the Golden Lion for directing: Margarethe von Trotta, Agnès Varda, Mira Nair, Sofia Coppola, Chloé Zhao, Audrey Diwan, and Laura Poitras (though in 1938, German director Leni Riefenstahl won the Festival when its highest award was the Coppa Mussolini). In 2019, Joker became the first movie based on original comic book characters to win the prize.[4]

From 1934 until 1942, the highest award of the festival was the Coppa Mussolini for Best Italian Film and Best Foreign Film. Even though other awards were attributed to Nazi propaganda films, such as Jud Süß (Suss, the Jew), an antisemitic production made at the behest of Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels, won the festival's Golden Crown[5][6] award in 1940.[7][8][9]

After the end of the WWII during the reestablishment of the festival, The Southerner, directed by Jean Renoir, won the main prize at the 1946 edition. During 1947 and 1948 the equivalent prize for the Golden Lion was the Gran Premio Internazionale di Venezia (Grand International Prize of Venice), awarded to Karel Steklý's The Strike in 1947 and Laurence Olivier's Hamlet in 1948.

These films received the Golden Lions or the major awards of the Venice Film Festival:[10]

Year Title Director Production Country 1949 Manon Henri-Georges Clouzot France Year English Title Original Title Director(s) Production Country 1950 Justice Is Done Justice est faite André Cayatte France 1951 Rashomon 羅生門 Akira Kurosawa Japan 1952 Forbidden Games Jeux interdits René Clément France 1953 No award given, the jury was unable to decide the winner and the prize was declared void[11][12] 1954 Romeo and Juliet Renato Castellani United Kingdom 1955 Ordet Carl Theodor Dreyer Denmark 1956 No award given, the jury was unable to decide the winner and the prize was declared void[13][a] 1957 Aparajito অপরাজিত Satyajit Ray India 1958 Rickshaw Man 無法松の一生 Hiroshi Inagaki Japan 1959 General Della Rovere Il generale della Rovere Roberto Rossellini France, Italy The Great War La grande guerra Mario Monicelli Year English Title Original Title Director(s) Production Country 1960 Tomorrow Is My Turn Le Passage du Rhin André Cayatte France 1961 Last Year at Marienbad L'année dernière à Marienbad Alain Resnais 1962 Family Diary Cronaca familiare Valerio Zurlini Italy Ivan's Childhood Ива́ново де́тство Andrei Tarkovsky Soviet Union 1963 Hands over the City Le mani sulla città Francesco Rosi Italy 1964 Red Desert Il deserto rosso Michelangelo Antonioni 1965 Sandra Vaghe stelle dell'Orsa ... Luchino Visconti 1966 The Battle of Algiers La battaglia di Algeri Gillo Pontecorvo Algeria, Italy 1967 Belle de Jour Luis Buñuel France 1968 Artists Under the Big Top: Perplexed Die Artisten in der Zirkuskuppel: Ratlos Alexander Kluge West Germany 1969 No award given, this edition of the festival was not competitive[14] Year English Title Original Title Director(s) Production Country Ref. 1970 No award given, the editions of the festival were not competitive [15] 1971 1972 1973 No award given, the festival was not organized during these years[b] [15] 1974 1975 1976 1977 No award given, the festival was not organized this year[c] 1978 No award given, the festival was not organized this year 1979 No award given, this edition of the festival was not competitive [16] Year English Title Original Title Director(s) Production Country 1980 Atlantic City Louis Malle Canada, France Gloria John Cassavetes United States 1981 Marianne and Juliane Die Bleierne Zeit Margarethe von Trotta West Germany 1982 The State of Things Der Stand der Dinge Wim Wenders 1983 First Name: Carmen Prénom Carmen Jean-Luc Godard France 1984 A Year of the Quiet Sun Rok spokojnego słońca Krzysztof Zanussi Poland 1985 Vagabond Sans toit ni loi Agnès Varda France 1986 The Green Ray Le Rayon vert Éric Rohmer 1987 Au revoir les enfants Louis Malle France, West Germany 1988 The Legend of the Holy Drinker La leggenda del santo bevitore Ermanno Olmi Italy, France 1989 A City of Sadness 悲情城市 Hou Hsiao-hsien Taiwan Year English Title Original Title Director(s) Production Country 1990 Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead Tom Stoppard United Kingdom, United States 1991 Close to Eden У́рга - территория любви Nikita Mikhalkov Soviet Union 1992 The Story of Qiu Ju 秋菊打官司 Zhang Yimou China 1993 Short Cuts Robert Altman United States Three Colours: Blue Trois couleurs: Bleu Krzysztof Kieślowski France, Poland 1994 Before the Rain Пред дождот Milčo Mančevski Macedonia Vive L'Amour 愛情萬歲 Tsai Ming-liang Taiwan 1995 Cyclo Xích lô Anh Hung Tran Vietnam, France 1996 Michael Collins Neil Jordan Ireland, United Kingdom 1997 Hana-bi はなび Takeshi Kitano Japan 1998 The Way We Laughed Così ridevano Gianni Amelio Italy 1999 Not One Less 一個都不能少 Zhang Yimou China Year English Title Original Title Director(s) Production Country 2000 The Circle دایره Jafar Panahi Iran 2001 Monsoon Wedding Mira Nair India 2002 The Magdalene Sisters Peter Mullan Ireland, United Kingdom 2003 The Return Возвращение Andrey Zvyagintsev Russia 2004 Vera Drake Mike Leigh United Kingdom 2005 Brokeback Mountain Ang Lee United States 2006 Still Life 三峡好人 Jia Zhangke China 2007 Lust, Caution 色，戒 Ang Lee Taiwan, China, United States 2008 The Wrestler Darren Aronofsky United States 2009 Lebanon לבנון Samuel Maoz Israel Year English Title Original Title Director(s) Production Country 2010 Somewhere § Sofia Coppola United States 2011 Faust § Фауст Alexander Sokurov Russia 2012 Pietà 피에타 Kim Ki-duk South Korea 2013 Sacro GRA Gianfranco Rosi Italy 2014 A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence En duva satt på en gren och funderade på tillvaron Roy Andersson Sweden 2015 From Afar Desde allá Lorenzo Vigas Venezuela 2016 The Woman Who Left Ang Babaeng Humayo Lav Diaz Philippines 2017 The Shape of Water Guillermo del Toro United States, Mexico 2018 Roma Alfonso Cuarón Mexico, United States 2019 Joker Todd Phillips United States Year English Title Original Title Director(s) Production Country 2020 Nomadland Chloé Zhao United States 2021 Happening § L'Événement Audrey Diwan France 2022 All the Beauty and the Bloodshed Laura Poitras United States 2023 Poor Things Yorgos Lanthimos Ireland, United Kingdom, United States 2024 The Room Next Door La habitación de al lado Pedro Almodóvar Spain Notes § Denotes unanimous win

Four directors have won the award twice:

• André Cayatte (1950 & 1960)
• Louis Malle (1980 & 1987)
• Zhang Yimou (1992 & 1999)
• Ang Lee (2005 & 2007)

Year Winner(s) 1970 Orson Welles 1971 Ingmar Bergman, Marcel Carné, and John Ford 1972 Charlie Chaplin, Anatoli Golovnya and Billy Wilder 1982 Alessandro Blasetti, Luis Buñuel, Frank Capra, George Cukor, Jean-Luc Godard, Sergei Yutkevich, Alexander Kluge, Akira Kurosawa, Michael Powell, Satyajit Ray, King Vidor, and Cesare Zavattini 1983 Michelangelo Antonioni 1985 Manoel de Oliveira, John Huston, and Federico Fellini 1986 Paolo Taviani and Vittorio Taviani 1987 Luigi Comencini and Joseph L. Mankiewicz 1988 Joris Ivens 1989 Robert Bresson 1990 Marcello Mastroianni and Miklós Jancsó 1991 Mario Monicelli and Gian Maria Volonté 1992 Jeanne Moreau, Francis Ford Coppola, and Paolo Villaggio 1993 Steven Spielberg, Robert De Niro, Roman Polanski, and Claudia Cardinale 1994 Al Pacino, Suso Cecchi d'Amico, and Ken Loach 1995 Woody Allen, Monica Vitti, Martin Scorsese, Alberto Sordi, Ennio Morricone, Giuseppe De Santis, Goffredo Lombardo, and Alain Resnais 1996 Robert Altman, Vittorio Gassman, Dustin Hoffman, and Michèle Morgan 1997 Gérard Depardieu, Stanley Kubrick, and Alida Valli 1998 Warren Beatty, Sophia Loren, and Andrzej Wajda 1999 Jerry Lewis 2000 Clint Eastwood 2001 Éric Rohmer 2002 Dino Risi 2003 Dino De Laurentiis and Omar Sharif 2004 Stanley Donen and Manoel de Oliveira 2005 Hayao Miyazaki and Stefania Sandrelli 2006 David Lynch 2007 Tim Burton and Bernardo Bertolucci (for the last 75 years of the history of cinema) 2008 Ermanno Olmi 2009 John Lasseter, Brad Bird, Pete Docter, Andrew Stanton, and Lee Unkrich 2010 John Woo 2011 Marco Bellocchio 2012 Francesco Rosi 2013 William Friedkin 2014 Thelma Schoonmaker and Frederick Wiseman 2015 Bertrand Tavernier 2016 Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jerzy Skolimowski 2017 Jane Fonda and Robert Redford 2018 David Cronenberg and Vanessa Redgrave 2019 Julie Andrews and Pedro Almodóvar 2020 Ann Hui and Tilda Swinton[17] 2021 Roberto Benigni and Jamie Lee Curtis 2022 Catherine Deneuve[18] and Paul Schrader[19] 2023 Liliana Cavani and Tony Leung Chiu-wai[20][21] 2024 Peter Weir and Sigourney Weaver[22][23] 2025 Werner Herzog[24]

• Film portal

• Leone d'Argento (Silver Lion)
• Palme d'Or, the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival
• Golden Bear, the highest prize awarded at the Berlin Film Festival

• La Biennale di Venezia official website / Cinema history