the festival circuit

Meanwhile, Netflix Is Out Here at the Venice Film Festival, Taking the Top Onore

Photo: Netflix

Well, consider this a major loss for small but vocal “Netflix films aren’t actual films!†community. Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma, a stunning Netflix family drama that chronicles two domestic workers and their employer in ‘70s-era Mexico City, has taken the Golden Lion — or the top honor — at this year’s Venice Film Festival. As an ode to Cuarón’s own childhood in the city, Deadline reports that the director, in a short acceptance speech, said the award was “incredibly meaningful†to him. Other Venice winners include Yorgos Lanthimos’s delicious monarch drama The Favourite for the Grand Jury Prize, Olivia Colman for Best Actress in The Favourite, and Willem Dafoe for Best Actor in At Eternity’s Gate. (They portrayed Queen Anne and Vincent van Gogh, respectively.) For other non-acting awards, Jacques Audiard won Best Director for the Western romp The Sisters Brothers, while Joel and Ethan Coen netted Best Screenplay for their Western romp The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs — which is also coming to Netflix! Sorry, Amazon Prime!

Netflix’s Roma Takes Top Honor at Venice Film Festival