May El-Toukhy wins Golden Lion at 83rd Venice Film Festival as Alina Șerban takes audience prize

Official competition and Golden Lion

The 83rd Venice International Film Festival concluded on Saturday evening, 12 September 2026, following eleven days of screenings that opened on 2 September. Director May El-Toukhy won the Golden Lion for Best Film in the official competition for her feature 'Woman Unknown'. Lead actress Mathilde Arcel earned the Coppa Volpi for Best Actress for her performance in the same production. The Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize went to director Lee Chang-dong for 'Possible Love', while Ilya Khrzhanovsky won the Silver Lion for Best Director for 'DAU'. The Special Jury Prize was awarded to Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor for 'NAZA'. Stéphane Brizé, Coralie Amédéo, and Olivier Gorce collected the Best Screenplay prize for 'Un Bon Petit Soldat' ('A Good Little Soldier'). John Malkovich received the Coppa Volpi for Best Actor for his role in 'Wild Horse Nine', and Malou Khebizi secured the Marcello Mastroianni Award for best debut performance in '15/18 (A Place to Heal)'.

Recognition for Alina Șerban and Romanian cinema

Romanian filmmaker Alina Șerban won the Armani Beauty Audience Award for her feature directorial debut, 'Eu contez' ('I Matter'), presented in the Venice Spotlight section. Șerban is the first Roma female director from Romania to present a feature film at the festival. The project was produced as a tripartite co-production among Romania, Germany, and Belgium, with dialogue recorded in Romanian and Romani. The storyline focuses on Rebeca, a young Roma woman preparing to leave the residential foster care center where she grew up. She pins her hopes on her father's release from prison to find family stability, though transitioning to independent adulthood presents severe challenges. The cast includes Denisa Farcaș, Sorin Mihai, Angelina Pavel, Vanessa Dancea, Raisa Mihai, Alexandru Stancu, Alina Berzunțeanu, and Natalia Călin, alongside 16 youth residents from the Casa Iosif and Casa Sara foster homes of the Christian Social Ensemble Măgurele in Bucharest. Șerban previously attended Venice in 2023 as an actress in Goran Stolevski's Orizzonti entry 'Housekeeping for Beginners'.

Orizzonti, Venice Classics, and Immersive selections

The festival also presented honors across its parallel categories. Auguste Bernard Kouemo Yanghu won the Luigi De Laurentiis Award for debut film with 'La maison du vent' ('House of the Wind'), which also received the Special Jury Prize in the Orizzonti section. Ann Sirot and Raphaël Balboni won the Orizzonti Best Film prize for 'Un Détour Par Diane', while Jaqueline Lentzou took Best Director for 'Mia Mera Sti Zoi Tis Tzo: Kefalaio Faidra' ('A Day in the Life of Jo: Chapter Phaedra'). Acting awards in Orizzonti went to Laleh Marzban for 'Moragheb' ('Falling House') and Riccardo Scamarcio for 'I figli della scimmia' ('The Children of the Monkey'). Tommaso Landucci and Damiano Femfert won Best Screenplay for Scamarcio's film, while Shaden Safieddine Tazi won Best Short Film for 'Quelques instants de bonheur' ('A Few Moments of Happiness'). In Venice Classics, Florestano Vancini's 'La lunga notte del '43' ('Long Night of 1943') was named Best Restored Film. In Venice Immersive, Shixin Tao and Yuqi Zhang won the Grand Prize for 'The Pigeon Ring', while Rory Mitchell and Nonny de la Pena took the Special Jury Prize for 'Out of the Ashes', and Peter Flaherty won Best Achievement for 'Empire at Sea'.