May el-Toukhy’s Woman Unknown, a European co-production set in the aftermath of the second World War, has, in a marginal upset, won The Golden Lion – the top prize – at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival. The film, well reviewed on premiere, concerns a young nanny preparing for marriage into a wealthy Copenhagen family. El-Toukhy, a Danish-Egyptian film-maker, was hitherto best known for the 2019 drama Queen of Hearts.

“To me personally, Woman Unknown is about the female body as a battleground,” she said from the podium. “At the same time, the film tells the tale of women who are invisible, unseen and voiceless.” The award from a jury headed by the actor Maggie Gyllenhaal feels pointed following complaints that only two films by women had been selected for the main competition.

John Malkovich won the Volpi Cup, the best actor prize, for his performance as an incorrigible older CIA operative in Martin McDonagh’s Wild Horse Nine. The latest work from the London-Irish film-maker and playwright, which co-stars Sam Rockwell in a tale set on Easter Island before the 1973 Chilean coup, is packed full of sharp dialogue and telling political asides.

“I am humbled to be chosen for this award, which has been given to so many wonderful actors over the past 83 iterations of the Venice Film Festival,” Malkovich said on a video relay. “Thank you to the jury for bestowing this honour upon me, and thank you, Martin McDonagh, for writing this lovely screenplay and for your superb directing of it, and for gifting me with this fantastic role.”

Malkovich, who is both fragile and sparky in the picture, is hereby installed as current favourite for the best actor Oscar, but will receive strong competition from Irish actor Andrew Scott in Simon Stone’s Elsinore, which premiered to raves at the Telluride Film Festival in Colorado as the Venice event was playing out.

Mathilde Arcel won the Volpi Cup for best actress for her lead role in Woman Unknown. “This is my first lead role in a in a movie, and it’s my first time at a film festival, and my first time to win a film award,” she said, happily dumbfounded.

Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor’s NAZA, a documentary, co-produced by The Guardian, concerning the Israeli Defense Forces’ assault on Gaza, was many punters’ tip for the Golden Lion, but ended up with a Special Jury Prize. Added late to the programme and screening towards the close of the event, the film, which is principally concerned with the mass killing of Palestinian civilians, was received with huge enthusiasm at its premiere on the Lido. Abraham and Szor, both from Israel, have already shared the best documentary feature Oscar for their work on No Other Land from 2024 and will surely compete for next year’s Academy Award.

“Thank you to the jury, and we are both very grateful to be here,” Abraham said. “It’s honestly not very easy to stand here, thinking of all the people, the Israeli politicians, the journalists back home who are now attacking this film, denying it, without even seeing it. And so much is being done as to not look at reality. The reality is that, since this festival started, just over these 10 days, Israel killed six Palestinian children in Gaza.”

The Grand Jury Prize went to Lee Chang-dong for Possible Love, a hugely long pondering of current infelicities in the economy of South Korea. “I made this film to ask what cinema can and should do in times like these,” the director said. “I take this award as a sign that you want me to keep asking these questions.”

Saoirse Ronan was on the Lido to premiere her directorial debut, a touching vignette titled Paper Plane, but that film lost out in the Orizzonti short films competition to A Few Moments of Happiness by Moroccan-Lebanese film-maker Shaden Safieddine Tazi.

Founded in 1932, Venice International Film Festival is, after Cannes, easily the second most significant festival on the cinematic calendar. In recent years, the event has premiered a large number of Oscar contenders – including best picture winners such as The Shape of Water and Nomadland – but the 2026 edition saw fewer submissions from the American studios. Golden Lions for lifetime achievement were, this year, presented to veteran actors George Clooney and Ellen Burstyn during the festival.

Awards of the 83rd Venice International Film Festival

Golden Lion for Best Film

Woman Unknown, May el-Toukhy

Silver Lion, Grand Jury Prize

Possible Love, Lee Chang-dong

Silver Lion for Best Director

Ilya Khrzhanovsky, DAU

Special Jury Prize

NAZA, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor

Award for Best Screenplay

A Good Little Soldier, Stéphane Brizé, Coralie Amédéo and Olivier Gorce

Volpi Cup for Best Actor

John Malkovich, Wild Horse Nine

Volpi Cup for Best Actress

Mathilde Arcel, Woman Unknown

Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best New Young Actor or Actress

Malou Khebizi, A Place to Heal

Luigi De Laurentis Award for Debut Film

House of the Wind, Auguste Bernard Kouemo Yanghu

Armani Beauty Audience Award

I Matter, Alina Serban

Horizons, Best Film

Diane in the Loop, Ann Sirot and Raphaël Balboni

Horizons, Best Director

Jacqueline Lentzou, A Day in the Life of Jo: Chapter Phaedra

Horizons, Special Jury Prize

House of the Wind, Auguste Bernard Kouemo Yanghu

Horizons, Best Actor

Riccardo Scamarcio, Children of the Monkey

Horizons, Best Actress

Laleh Marzban, Falling House

Horizons, Best Screenplay

Children of the Monkey, Tommaso Landucci

Best Short Film

A Few Moments of Happiness, Shaden Safieddine Tazi

Venice Classics, Best Restored Film

Long Night of 1943, Florestano Vancini

Venice Immersive, Grand Prize

The Pigeon Ring, Shixin Tao and Yuqi Zhang

Venice Immersive, Special Jury Prize

Out of the Ashes, Rory Mitchell and Nonny de la Peña

Venice Immersive, Achievement Prize

Empire at Sea, Peter Flaherty

Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement

George Clooney, Ellen Burstyn