Jim Jarmusch wins the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival

VeniceWhen the vast majority of the press and critics accredited at the Venice Film Festival expected the Golden Lion to go to Kaouther Ben Hania –The Tunisian director who shook the Mostra with her denunciation of the genocide in Gaza Voice of Hind Rajab–, the jury chaired by American Alexander Payne has decided to award the gold prize to fellow American Jim Jarmusch, a living legend of American independent cinema who presented in Venice Father mother sister brother, the best film seen on the Mostra screens during the eleven days of the festival.

A simplistic analysis of the winners, which reserved the Grand Jury Prize for Voice of Hind Rajab, one might conclude that art has triumphed over politics, but this would be an unfair argument, since Jarmusch's film, centered on family relationships, can be read as a humanist antidote to the discouragement, hostility, and ideological darkness of our times. The filmmaker himself, with the Golden Lion in his hands, has argued that "it is not necessary to address a political theme to make political cinema." According to Jarmusch, "empathy" is the most powerful tool we have to "solve the problems we face today."

Father mother sister brother It was screened at the Mostra on Sunday, August 31, when the festival was reaching its fifth day packed with fatalistic dramas and thrillers misanthropic. In that context, Jarmusch's film emerged as a delightful oasis of delicacy, melancholy, and happiness. With a slow cadence and a split structure—Jarmusch refuses to consider it a triptych and maintains that it is a film with three chapters— Father mother sister brother celebrates the practice of poetic cinema and constructs an ode to the beauty that resides at the heart of everyday life. Closer than ever to the spirit of his admired Yasujiro Ozu, Jarmusch explores the mystery of family life, which emerges with equal doses of acidity and tenderness in three stories set in rural New Jersey, a residential suburb of Dublin, and central Paris. And, speaking of cities, Jarmusch, with his unmistakable sense of humor, celebrated receiving such a prestigious award "in the city of Casanova, Vivaldi, and Terence Hill."

Award dedicated to the Palestine Red Crescent

Despite not winning the jackpot, Voice of Hind Rajab With the Grand Jury Prize, the film confirms the strong imprint left on the festival's memory. Since its premiere, Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania's film—which pays tribute to the six-year-old girl of the film's title, who was killed by the Israeli army during the occupation of Gaza—has become a symbol of cinema's ability to stir the cone with compelling sounds and images. On the stage of the Festival's Great Hall, Ben Hania dedicated the award to the members of the Palestinian Red Crescent, the organization that watches over the lives of Palestinians trapped in Gaza. "The voice of Hind is the voice of Gaza, and its voice will continue to resonate until justice is done," proclaimed the filmmaker, who did not hesitate to define the war in Gaza as "a genocide committed by the Israeli government with absolute immunity." For Ben Hania, "cinema cannot give us back Hind's voice, but it can preserve it and carry it across borders."

Toni Servillo, best actor

The Mostra's list of winners is rounded out by a well-deserved set of awards, with no recognition for Netflix titles. Benny Safdie confirmed the preeminence of indie cinema with the award for best director for The smashing machine, which uses the true story of wrestler Mark Kerr to question the culture of success entrenched in the American imagination. The award for best screenplay went to French writers Valérie Donzelli and Gilles Marchand for the social drama. À pied de œuvre, which addresses the precariousness in the artistic world, while Toni Servillo won the Volpi Cup for best actor for his minimalist and moving portrayal of an exemplary president of the Italian Republic in The grace, by Paolo Sorrentino. Finally, Chinese actress Xin Zhilei – known for her participation in the series Blossoms Shanghai, Wong Kar-wai's – has won the Best Actress award for the drama The sun rises on us all, Italian Gianfranco Rosi has won the Special Jury Prize for the Neapolitan documentary Sotto le nuvole, and German actress Luna Wedler has been recognized with the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actress for her role in the film Silent Friend.

2025 Venice Film Festival Awards

• Golden Lion for Best Film
• Father, mother sister brother, by Jim Jarmusch
• Grand Jury Prize
• Voice of Hind Rajab, by Kaouther Ben Hania
• Best Director
• Benny Safdie by The smashing machine
• Special Jury Prize
• Sotto le nuvole, by Gianfranco Rosi
• Best Screenplay
• Valérie Donzelli and Gilles Marchand for À pied de oeuvre
• Best Actor
• Toni Servillo by The grace, by Paolo Sorrentino
• Best Actress
• Zhilei Xin by ri gua zhong tian (The sun rises on us all), by Cai Shangjun
• Best New Actress
• Luna Wedler by Silent friend, by Ildikó Enyedi
• Better debut film
• Short summer, by Nastia Korkia
• Audience Award
• Málaga Street, by Maryam Touzani