Golden Lion
The Golden Lion is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is widely regarded as one of the film industry's most prestigious and distinguished prizes. In 1970, the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement was introduced, an honorary prize for people who have made an important contribution to cinema.
The prize was introduced in 1949 as the Golden Lion of Saint Mark, which was one of the best known symbols of the ancient Republic of Venice. In 1954, the prize was permanently named the Golden Lion.
History
The first Golden Lion was awarded in 1949. Previously, the equivalent prize was the Gran Premio Internazionale di Venezia '', awarded in 1947 and 1948. No Golden Lions were awarded between 1969 and 1979. According to the Biennale's official website, the hiatus was a result of the 1968 Lion being given to the radically experimental Die Artisten in der Zirkuskuppel: Ratlos; the website says that the awards "still had a statute dating back to the fascist era and could not side-step the general political climate. Sixty-eight produced a dramatic fracture with the past".Fourteen French films have been awarded the Golden Lion, more than to any other nation. However, there is considerable geographical diversity in the winners. Nine American filmmakers have won the Golden Lion, with awards for John Cassavetes and Robert Altman, as well as Ang Lee, Darren Aronofsky, Sofia Coppola, Todd Phillips, Chloé Zhao, Laura Poitras, and Jim Jarmusch.
Prior to 1980, only three of 21 winners were of non-European origin. Since the 1980s, the Golden Lion has been presented to a number of Asian filmmakers, particularly in comparison to the Cannes Film Festival's top prize, the Palme d'Or, which has been awarded to five Asian filmmakers since 1980. The Golden Lion, by contrast, has been awarded to ten Asians during the same time period, with two of these filmmakers winning it twice. Ang Lee won the Golden Lion twice within three years in the 2000s, once for an American film and once for a Chinese-language film. Zhang Yimou has also won twice. Other Asians to win the Golden Lion since 1980 include Jia Zhangke, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Tsai Ming-liang, Trần Anh Hùng, Takeshi Kitano, Kim Ki-duk, Jafar Panahi, Mira Nair, and Lav Diaz. Russian filmmakers have won the Golden Lion several times, including since the end of the USSR.
To date, 33 of the 54 winners were European men, including Soviet/Russian winners. Since 1949, seven women have won the Golden Lion for directing: Margarethe von Trotta, Agnès Varda, Mira Nair, Sofia Coppola, Chloé Zhao, Audrey Diwan, and Laura Poitras. In 1938, German director Leni Riefenstahl won the Festival when its highest award was the Coppa Mussolini. In 2019, Joker became the first movie based on original comic book characters to win the prize.
Controversies
From 1934 until 1942, the highest award of the festival was the Coppa Mussolini for Best Italian Film and Best Foreign Film. Even though other awards were attributed to Nazi propaganda films, such as Jud Süß, an antisemitic production made at the behest of Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels, won the festival's Golden Crown award in 1940.''Gran Premio Internazionale di Venezia''
After the end of the WWII during the reestablishment of the festival, The Southerner, directed by Jean Renoir, won the main prize at the 1946 edition. In 1947 and 1948, the equivalent prize for the Golden Lion was the Gran Premio Internazionale di Venezia, awarded to Karel Steklý's The Strike in 1947 and Laurence Olivier's Hamlet in 1948.Winners
These films received the Golden Lions or the major awards of the Venice Film Festival:File:Carl Theodor Dreyer by Erling Mandelmann.jpg|thumb|203x203px|Carl Theodor Dreyer won for Ordet
1940s
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010s
2020s
;NotesMultiple winners
Four directors have won the award twice:- André Cayatte
- Louis Malle
- Zhang Yimou
- Ang Lee
Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement