“The Woman Who Left,” a black-and-white drama by Filipino director Lav Diaz, won the 73rd Venice Film Festival’s Golden Lion. The jury helmed by Sam Mendes awarded the festival’s top prize on Saturday night. The movie tells the story of a wrongly-convicted schoolteacher who is released after 30 years in jail and struggles between her thirst of revenge and feelings of forgiveness.
The Grand Jury prize was awarded to Tom Ford’s romantic noir “Nocturnal Animals,” the second film directed by the fashion designer, set in Los Angeles and Texas and starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Amy Adams.
Director Paolo Sorrentino’s highly-awaited TV series “The Young Pope” premiered at the festival with the first two episodes and was very well received. It stars Jude Law, who portrays the fictional Pope Pius XIII, the first American pope in history, Diane Keaton and Silvio Orlando. It is the first TV work for Sorrentino, who won a foreign language Oscar with “The Great Beauty.”
The festival organized by the Biennale and directed by Alberto Barbera ran August 31-September 10 with 20 movies competing.