Desde allá Receives Golden Lion Award at Venice Film Festival!

The 72nd Venice International Film Festival has ended and we are pleased to announce that the co-production between Mexico and Venezuela, Desde allá (From Afar), by Lorenzo Vigas, received the Golden Lion Award for Best Film. Desde allá was produced by Guillermo Arriaga, Rodolfo Cova, Michel Franco, Edgar Ramírez, Gabriel Ripstein and Lorenzo Vigas himself. The short film by this director, Los elefantes nunca olvidan (2004), participated in the 43rd Critics’ Week, a parallel section of the Cannes Film Festival, and won the Special Mariposa Monarca Jury Award at the 2nd FICM. Congratulations to the entire team of Desde allá for receiving the top award presented by the Venice Film Festival!

Desde allá by Lorenzo Vigas, winner of the Gold Lion for Best Film at the Venice International Film Festival 2015.

The Mexican presence at this edition of the Venice International Film Festival was exceptional: The president of the jury of international competition was director Alfonso Cuarón, while Daniela Michel, general director of FICM, was part of the jury that presented the Lion of the Future – “Luigi De Laurentiis” award to a debut film. The festival included five Mexican productions in its main sections and a special award for Arturo Ripstein in recognition of his long career in film.

In addition, Australian Michael Rowe, a nationalized Mexican, won the top Venice Days Award, a parallel section of the festival, for his film Early Winter, the last of a trilogy that includes Año bisiesto (2010) and Manto Acuífero (2013), both shown at the FICM. Congratulations!

Following is the complete list of the winners of the 72nd Venice International Film Festival:

Golden Lion for Best Film:
Desde allá, by Lorenzo Vigas (Mexico, Venezuela)

Silver Lion for Best Director:
Pablo Trapero for El clan (Argentina, Spain)

Grand Jury Award:
Anomalisa, by Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson (United States)

Volpi Cup for Best Actor:
Fabrice Luchini, for L’Hermine by Christian Vincent (France)

Volpi Cup for Best Actress:
Valeria Golino, for Per Amor Vostro by Giuseppe M. Gaudino (Italy, France)

Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Actress or Young Actor:
Abraham Attah, for Beasts of No Nation by Cary Fukunaga (United States)

Best Screenplay:
Christian Vincent, for L’Hermine (France)

Special Jury Award:
Frenzy, by Emin Alper (Turkey, France, Qatar)

Best Film in the Orizzonti section:
Free In Deed, by Jake Mahaffy (United States, New Zealand)

Best Director in the Orizzonti section:
Brady Corbet, for The Childhood of a Leader (United Kingdom, Hungry)

Special Jury Award in the Orizzonti section:
Neon Bull, by Gabriel Mascaro (Brazil, Uruguay, Netherlands)

Orizzonti Award for Best Actor or Actress:
Dominique Leborne, for Tempête by Samuel Collardey (France)

Best Short Film in the Orizzonti section:
Belladonna, by Dubravka Turic (Croatia)

Lion of the Future – “Luigi De Laurentiis” Award for Best Debut Film:
The Childhood of a Leader, by Brady Corbet (United Kingdom, Hungry)

Venice Classics for Best Documentary About Cinema:
The 1000 Eyes of Dr. Maddin, by Yves Montmayeur (France)

Venice Classics Award for Best Restored Film:
Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975), by Pier Paolo Pasolini (Italy, France)