"Venetian Lion" - the prize of the Venice Film Festival. The history of the festival, interesting facts

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-07 19:44

Currently in the circles of the "creative heavenly" there is an opinion about various film festivals: Cannes is one of the most international, "Venetian Lion" is elite, Berlin is considered "political". Every year in September, for more than 2 weeks, national flags appear above the Cinema Palace on the resort island of Lido. The Palazzo del Cinema hall opens its doors to prominent cinematographers, journalists from all over the world, actors and directors who have come from different countries, claiming the main prize - the Golden Lion statuette.

The history of the birth of the film festival

Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica (Venice Film Festival) - one of the oldest film festivals in the world, held in Venice (Northern Italy, Lido Island) as part of the Biennale - a creative competition among various arts. The Lion of Venice International Film Festival was first held in August 1932.

Giuseppe VolpiMisurata (President of the Biennale) and Luciano De Feo became the founders of the film competition.

The 1st Venetian Lion was held at the Excelsior Hotel with more than 25 thousand visitors. The film festival did not have a competitive nature and presented the following films for display:

1. "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" dir. Ruben Mamulyan (the very first of the presented films).
2. "Grand Hotel" dir. Edmund Goulding.
3. "It Happened Once" dir. Frank Capra.
4. "Frankenstein" dir. James Wales.
5. "Earth" dir. A. Dovzhenko.

And other films that later became classics of cinema.

In 1937 the new Palais des Cinema, designed by the architect Luigi Quagliato, was opened.

Mussolini Cup

Initially, the Venice Festival was conceived as a democratic event with the arrival of representatives of various countries, regardless of the political orientation of a particular state. And in 1932, filmmakers from Europe, America and Russia (9 countries in total) brought 29 new feature films to Venice.

The first festival was a resounding success, the second, organized in 1934, already received 40 entries from filmmakers from 17 countries. More than 300 correspondents from all over the world attended such a large-scale event.

But in the 30s of the twentieth century, Italy was under the rule of the dictatorial regime of B. Mussolini, who influenced the results of the competition and the awarding of awards, noting only those whocorresponded to the "correct" ideology.

Therefore, the Mussolini Cup became the main prize for a period from 1934 to 1942. The first to receive this award was Robert J. Flaherty for the documentary film "The Man from Aran", reflecting the reality of those times.

Since 1935, the festival under the direction of Ottavio Crozet has received the status of an annual event. The award for acting work was called the Volpi Cup. The history of the festival was interrupted twice:

1. During the war years of World War II 1943-45
2. Not for long in the late 60s.

Golden Lion Appears

During the period of hostilities, the festival lost its significance, but in 1947 it was held again and recognized as one of the most successful in its history. Over the next 2 years, the main prize is the "Great International Prize of Venice", then since 1949 it becomes the "Golden Lion of St. Mark" - the symbol of Venice.

After there was an out-of-competition period when the "Golden Lion" of the Venice Film Festival was not awarded (1969-1979). During this period of time, only a few films received medals.

A new round of development and awarding begins in 1980, when within the framework of the Golden Lion festival competitions were organized not only for feature films, but also for short films, documentaries and children's films. According to the mandatory conditions for participation, the work must not be shown outside the country of origin and not beparticipant in any other competitions.

General program of the festival

"Venetian lion" includes several components:

• Main competition;
• "Horizons" - where the winner of the documentary and feature films is determined;
• Corto Cortussimo - shorts wrestling;
• view out-of-competition entries;
• independent and parallel cinema, the program of which includes: the week of international criticism, "competition" of auteur films;
• film market - the period of concluding contracts and selling their films by film studios.

Other Venice Film Awards

No more than 20 paintings are allowed to participate today. Films are selected by a special commission of film and art experts headed by the director of the festival. Nominated films remain unknown until they are officially announced. The jury includes 7-9 competent representatives. In addition to the "Golden Lion", the winners are awarded:

• "Silver Lion" Venice Film Festival - for directing;
• "Volpi Cup" - for performance of roles;
• "M. Mastroianni Prize" - awarded to young actors;
• "Ozella" - award for screenplay, cinematography, technical work;
• special award for contribution to cinema.

"Horizons" - the decision is made by 3-5 members of the jury, awards:

• Orizzonti -feature films;
• Orizzonti DOC - documentaries.

Among short films less than half an hour long are allowed, the jury consists of 3 people, awards are presented in three categories:

• Corto Cortissimo - Short Film;
• UIP - European Short Film;
• Special Mention - a special prize.

Interesting fact! The Blue Lion is a separate award introduced in 2007 for the best gay film. The initiator was the president of the association CinemamArt Daniel Casagrande.

Additional prizes and "Luigi Di Laurentiis" award

There are also awards given to contestants outside of the official ceremony. By agreement with the organizers, public organizations, associations of film critics, various societies have the right to award additional prizes.

Debutants representing the main or independent program may qualify for the prize "Luigi Di Laurentiis". The winner of this nomination is determined by the joint decision of 7 members of the jury. The $100,000 prize goes to the director and producer equally.

The best of the best

Venice selects films very carefully. No matter how "strong" the winners of the "Golden Lion" of the Venice Film Festival, no one has been able to receive the award more than twice. And there are only 4 winners twice: representatives of France - Louis Mal, Andre Kayat and representatives of China - Ang Li, Zhang Yimou.

Interesting fact!Most often, the winner is an original, elitist, requiring deep preparation for the perception of cinema.

Among the most famous Lion of Venice winners of all time, films are:

1. 1948 "Hamlet" dir. Laurence Olivier, UK.
2. 1951 "Rashomon" dir. Akira Kurosawa, Japan.
3. 1961 "Last year" dir. Alain Resnais, France.
4. 1964 "Red Desert" dir. Michelangelo Antonioni, Italy.
5. 1967 "Beauty of the Day" dir. Luis Bunuel.
6. 1983 "The Name of Carmen" dir. Jean Luc Godard, France.
7. 1990 "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead" dir. Tom Stoppard, UK.
8. 1993 "Three Colors: Blue" dir. Krzysztof Keslowski, France-Poland.
9. 2005 "Brokeback Mountain" dir. Ang Li, China.
10. 2017 "The Shape of Water" dir. Guillermo del Toro and more

Our laureates

The Venice award is the most prestigious and coveted. Among our compatriots who participated in the film festival, the following took away the "Golden Venetian Lions" with them:

1. Film "Petersburg night", "Thunderstorm" dir. G. Roshal, "Merry Fellows" dir. G. Alexandrov, "Outskirts" dir. B. Barnet, documentary/f "Chelyuskin" dir. V. Mikosha (program of the Soviet Union) - Mussolini Cup, 1934
2. "The Oath" dir. M. Chiaureli - "Gold medal",1946
3. "Ivan's Childhood" dir. A. Tarkovsky - 1962
4. A. Brand "Golden Lion" for contribution to cinema, 1972
5. S. Yutkevich "Golden Lion" for his contribution to cinema, 1982
6. "Ugra - Territory of Love" dir. N. Mikhalkov, 1991
7. "Return" dir. A. Zvyagintsev, 2003 - Luigi Di Laurentiis prize.

Interesting fact! Since 2007, the Blue Lion prize has been introduced for films of a homosexual nature. In 2009, it was awarded to Tom Ford for the film "A Single Man", and in 2011 the statuette went to Al Pacino for the film "Salome Wilde".

The Silver Lions were awarded for the following ribbons:

1. "Start in Life" dir. N. Ekka (Best Director), 1932
2. "Spring" G. Alexandrov, A. Raskin, M. Slobodskoy (best screenplay), 1947
3. "Sadko" dir. A. Ptushko, 1953
4. "Jumper" dir. S. Samsonov - "Silver Lion" and Pasinetti Award 1955
5. "Clown" dir. I. Evteeva (best short film), 2002
6. "Oil" dir. R. Ibragimbekov (best short film), 2003
7. "Paper Soldier" dir. A. German Jr. (best direction - "Silver Lion", "Golden Osella" - the work of directors of photography M. Drozdov, A. Khamidkhodzhaev), 2008
8. "White Nights of the Postman Alexei Tryapitsyn" dir. A. Konchalovsky (best director), 2014
9. "Paradise" dir. BUT. Konchalovsky (best director) 2016

Other awards and prizes:

1. "Peace to the incoming" A. Alov and V. Naumov - Special Jury Prize, 1961
2. "Introduction" I. Talankin - Special Jury Prize, 1962
3. "Such a guy lives" V. Shukshin - "The Lion of St. Mark" (the best film for children), 1964
4. "Hamlet" G. Kozintsev - Special Jury Prize, 1964
5. "Loy alty" P. Todorovsky - Prize for the best debut, 1965
6. "Enchanted Islands" by A. Zguridi - "The Lion of St. Mark" (best documentary/f for children), 1965
7. "Morozko" A. Rowe - "The Lion of St. Mark" (best film for children), 1965
8. "I'm twenty years old" M. Khutsiev - Special Jury Prize, 1965
9. "They call, open the door" A. Mitta - "The Lion of St. Mark" (the best film for children), 1966
10. "Rescuer" S. Solovyov - Special Jury Diploma, 1980
11. "Private Life" M. Ulyanov received the Special Jury Prize for Ch. role, dir. Y. Raizman, 1982
12. "Favorites of the Moon" O. Ioseliani (France-Italy-USSR) - Special Grand Prix of the Jury, 1984
13. "Alien White and Pockmarked" S. Solovyov - Special Grand Prix of the Jury, 1986
14. "The Black Monk" by I. Dykhovichny was awarded to Vadim Yusov for his work as director of photography "Golden Osella", 1988
15. "House of Fools" A. Konchalovsky - Special Grand Prix of the Jury, 2002
16. "The Last Train" A. Herman Jr. - prizeLuigi Di Laurentiis, 2003
17. "First on the Moon" A. Fedorchenko - Prize for the best documentary/f "Horizons", 2005
18. "Oatmeal" by A. Fedorchenko - Prize of the Ecumenical Jury, "Golden Osella" was awarded to director of photography M. Krichman (best visual solution), 2010

Volpi Cup Winners (best actors):

• K. Rappoport "Double Time" dir. J. Capatondi, 2009
• Oh. Borisov "The Only Witness", 1990
• N. Arinbasarova "The First Teacher", 1966
• D. Ritenberg "Mallow", 1958
• E. Leonov "Autumn Marathon", 1979

Today the Venice Film Festival is one of the most authoritative, it actually determines the fashion for cinema.