On September 8, the 69th film festival of the same name ended in Venice. Film critics were eagerly awaiting the end of this event in order to draw their conclusions and assign ratings to the nominated films presented to the public.
The main prize - "Golden Lion" - was awarded to the film "Pieta" by South Korean director Kim Ki-Duk. The film is very cruel, about how a bandit forcibly takes debts from the poor. The guy was abandoned by his mother about 30 years ago, and in the course of his work he met her and learned about the desire to resume communication with his son. The director focused on the role of money in the modern world and its impact on a person. Receiving the award, the creator of the picture sang the Korean folk song "Arirang". To thunderous applause, he went down to the hall. This is not the first award for Kim Ki-Dook, in 2011 he already received one of the awards at the same film festival.
Russia presented Kirill Serebrennikov's film Treason, as well as Alexei Balabanov's film I Want Too. These works received positive reviews in the press, but the directors did not receive prizes. Despite the setbacks, domestic films did not go unnoticed and the Russian woman Lyubov Arkus was given the Internet critics' award - "Silver Mouse" for the film "Anton is Nearby".
The event was not without scandals. Austrian creator of the film “Paradise. Vera - Ulrich Seidl - even received a special prize from the jury for the story presented. After watching, viewers expressed outrage about the crucifixion sex scene. This shocked the Italian radical Catholics. As a result, they filed a lawsuit with the Venice prosecutor's office for insulting believers.
The best actress was named the Israeli Hadass Yaron, who successfully starred in the film "Fill the Emptiness". Hadass played an 18-year-old from an Orthodox Jewish family living in Tel Aviv, whose older sister dies. This upsets the girl's engagement.
The best actor was American Philip Seymour Hoffman, who shared this award with his partner in The Master, Joaquin Phoenix. The same film was awarded the Silver Lion for Best Director. The award was accepted instead of the director Hoffman, who then exchanged statuettes with Seidl. The jury confused the nominations and the press captured the embarrassment.
The Frenchman Olivier Assayas presented the picture "After May" and received the prize for the best script, and the Italian Daniele Cipri for the picture - "And there was a son" - was recognized as the best cinematographer. Anderson's "Master" was also well received. In the story, the leader of a religious cult defends his position before the state. The prototype was the Church of Scientology.
The film "To the Admiration" by the American director Terrence Malick did not receive any prizes, but caused a negative reaction from the festival audience. Malik himself was not at the ceremony, being an uncommunicative person.
The motto of the event was the slogan “less is better”. The level of films presented was higher than in previous years. But the number of paintings also decreased. There is more quality than quantity. And on the red carpet, the number of celebrities has decreased, although several young stars have appeared.
