VENICE 2026 WINNERS: May el-Toukhy’s ‘Woman Unknown’ Wins the Golden Lion & Best Actress (Full List)
After 10 days of exciting new titles in cinema making their world premieres, the 83rd annual Venice Film Festival concluded today with its awards ceremony, setting the stage for Awards Season. HtN was on the ground covering its numerous world premieres.
The Maggie Gyllenhaal-headed jury awarded the prestigious Golden Lion for Best Film to May el-Toukhy’s post-WWII drama, Woman Unknown. This is a triumphant win for Danish-Egyptian filmmaker el-Toukhy, who was the only woman with a film in the main competition. But its accolades don’t stop there: star Mathilde Arcel took home the Volpi Cup for Best Actress for her raw, powerful performance as a woman in post-WWII Denmark hiding a secret involvement with a German soldier. While it has yet to be picked up for U.S. distribution, it is set to screen at this year’s TIFF in the Centrepiece section.
Other big wins include Lee Chang-dong’s social class drama Possible Love winning the Grand Jury Prize (second place). It is set to screen at TIFF and NYFF before Netflix releases it in select theaters on October 23, and it will stream on its platform November 6.
John Malkovich was awarded the Volpi Cup for Best Actor for his performance in Martin McDonagh’s Wild Horse Nine as a CIA agent on a mission in Chile’s Easter Island around the beginning of the Pinochet dictatorship. The Marcello Mastroianni Best Young Actor Award went to Malou Khebizi for her intensely profound performance in Cedric Kahn’s drama A Place of Hope as a troubled teen serving another stint at a youth psychiatric institute.
The Silver Lion for Best Director was awarded to Russian dissident Ilya Khrzhanovsky for his Soviet-era epic DAU, which he shot over nearly two decades. Best Screenplay was awarded to Stéphane Brizé, along with his co-writers Coralie Amedeo and Olivier Gorce, for the former’s corporate drama, A Good Little Soldier.
Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor’s headline-making documentary NAZA was presented with the Special Jury Prize. Shot in secret over three years, it reveals the Israeli government officials’ role in the killing of thousands of Palestinian civilians during the conflict through interviews with anonymous sources. It made Venice Film Festival history with a 25-minute standing ovation at its world premiere, the longest yet for the festival.
The award winners also include honorees from other sections of the festival, including the Orizzonti and VR programs.
See the list of winners below and watch the full ceremony on YouTube.
Main Competition:
Golden Lion: “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 and Rachel Szor
Best Screenplay: “Un Bon Petit Soldat,” Coralie Amedeo, Stéphane Brizé, Olivier Gorce
Volpi Cup for Best Actress: Mathilde Arcel, “Woman Unknown”
Volpi Cup for Best Actor: John Malkovich, “Wild Horse Nine”
Marcello Mastroianni Best Young Actor Award: Malou Khebizi, “A Place to Heal”
Lion of the Future:
Luigi De Laurentiis Award for Debut Film: “House of the Wind,” Auguste Bernard Kouemo Yanghu
Venice Spotlight:
Audience Award — Armani Beauty: “I Matter,” Alina Șerban
Orizzonti:
Orizzonti Best Film: “Diane in the Loop,” Ann Sirot and Raphaël Balboni
Orizzonti Best Director: Jacqueline Lentzou, “A Day in the Life of Jo: Chapter Phaedra”
Orizzonti Special Jury Prize: “House of the Wind,” Auguste Bernard Kouemo Yanghu
Orizzonti Best Actress: Laleh Marzban, “Falling House”
Orizzonti Best Actor: Riccardo Scamarcio, “The Children of the Monkey”
Orizzonti Best Screenplay: “The Children of the Monkey,” Tommaso Landucci, Damiano Femfert
Orizzonti Best Short Film: “A Few Moments of Happiness,” Shaden Safieddine Tazi
Venice Classics:
Venice Classics Award for Best Restored Film: “La Lunga Notte del ’43”
Venice Immersive:
Venice Immersive Achievement Prize: “Empire at Sea,” Peter Flaherty
Venice Immersive Special Jury Prize: “Out of the Ashes,” Rory Mitchell and Nonny de la Peña
Venice Immersive Grand Prize: “The Pigeon Ring,” Shixin Tao, Yuqi Zhang
