Pedro Almodóvar Wins Golden Lion for The Room Next Door at Venice Film Festival

Photo: Daniele Venturelli/WireImage

Pedro Almodóvar is slowly gathering up a pride at the Venice Film Festival. Five years after he won a Golden Lion for his lifetime achievement in film at Venice in 2019, he’s earned another one for his latest movie, The Room Next Door— it stars Tilda Swinton as a dying journalist looking to reconnect with her friend Julianne Moore as she faces death. While the movie is his English language for a full-length feature film, in his acceptance speech, Almodóvar says, “The spirit [of the film] is Spanish.� It’ll be his first Golden Lion for a specific movie; he won best screenplay for Women on a Verge of a Nervous Breakdown in 1988.

Babygirl’s Nicole Kidman took home the best actress prize; however she was unable to accept the award in person as her mother had died as she arrived in Venice. “Today I arrived in Venice to learn shortly thereafter that my beautiful, brave mother, Janelle Ann Kidman, has just passed,� Kidman said in a message, read by director Halina Reijn on stage as she accepted the award on her behalf. “I’m in shock and I have to go to my family, but this award is for her. She shaped me, she guided me, and she made me. I’m beyond grateful that I get to say her name to all of you through Helena. The collision of art and life is heartbreaking, and my heart is broken.�

Below are all the winners of Venice Film Festival 2024:

Winners for in competition:
Golden Lion: The Room Next Door - dir. Pedro Almodóvar
Grand Jury Prize: Vermiglio - dir. Maura Delpero
Silver Lion for Best Director: Brady Corbet for The Brutalist
Special Jury Prize: April - dir. Dea Kulumbegashvili
Best Screenplay: Murilo Hauser and Heitor Lorega for I’m Still Here
Volpi Cup for Best Actress: Nicole Kidman in Babygirl
Volpi Cup for Best Actor: Vincent Lindon in The Quiet Son
Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor: Paul Kircher in And Their Children After Them

Winners for Horizons:
Best Film: The New Year That Never Came - dir. Bogdan Mureşanu
Best Director: Sarah Friedland for Familiar Touch
Special Jury Prize: One of Those Days When Hemme Dies for Murat Firatoglu
Best Actress: Kathleen Chalfant in Familiar Touch
Best Actor: Francesco Gheghi in Familia
Best Screenplay: Scandar Copti in Happy Holidays
Best Short Film: Who Loves the Sun - dir. Arshia Shakiba

Lion of the Future Winner:
Luigi de Laurentiis Award for Best Debut Feature: Familiar Touch - dir. Sarah Friedland

Horizons Extra Winner:
Audience Award: Shahed (The Witness) - dir. Nader Saeivar

Venice Classics Winner:
Best Documentary on Cinema: Chain Reactions - dir: Alexandre O. Philippe
Best Restored Film: Ecce Bombo - dir. Nanni Moretti