US indie director Jim Jarmusch unexpectedly won the coveted Golden Lion at the Venice film festival on Saturday with Father Mother Sister Brother, a three-part meditation on the uneasy tie between parents and their adult children.
Although his gentle comedy received largely positive reviews, it had not been a favourite for the top prize, with many critics instead tipping the Voice of Hind Rajab, a harrowing true-life account of the killing of a five-year-old Palestinian girl during the Gaza war. In the end, the film directed by Tunisia’s Kaouther Ben Hania took the runner-up Silver Lion.
Divided into chapters set in New Jersey, Dublin and Paris, Father Mother Sister Brother features an ensemble cast including Tom Waits, Adam Driver, Mayim Bialik, Charlotte Rampling, Cate Blanchett, Vicky Krieps, Indya Moore and Luka Sabbat. In a four star review, the Guardian’s chief film critic Peter Bradshaw described it as “a film to savour”.
“All of us here who make films, we’re not motivated by competition. But this is something I truly appreciate, this unexpected honour,” said Jarmusch, who made his name in the 1980s with offbeat, low-budget works such as Stranger Than Paradise and Down by Law.
Elsewhere, Italy’s Toni Servillo was named best actor for his wry portrayal of a weary president nearing the end of his mandate in La Grazia, directed by his longtime collaborator Paolo Sorrentino. China’s Xin Zhilei won best actress for her role in the Sun Rises on Us All, a drama directed by Cai Shangjun that delves into questions of sacrifice, guilt and unresolved feelings between estranged lovers who share a dark secret.
The Venice festival marks the start of the awards season and regularly throws up big favourites for the Oscars, with films premiering there over the past four years collecting more than 90 Oscar nominations and winning almost 20. It has often been seen as the most glamorous and least political of the major film festivals, but in 2025 the movies that made the strongest impact focused on current events, with the ongoing Israeli invasion of Gaza casting a long shadow.
As he unveiled his picture last weekend, Jarmusch acknowledged that he was concerned that one of his main distributors had taken money from a company with ties to the Israeli military.
The Voice of Hind Rajab, which uses the real audio of a young girl’s desperate pleas for help as her car comes under Israeli gunfire, was the fan favourite, winning a record 23-minute standing ovation at its premiere. The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw said it was “a fierce, vehement piece of work”.
In her acceptance speech, Ben Hania said: “Cinema cannot bring Hind back, nor can it erase the atrocity committed against her. Nothing can ever restore what was taken, but cinema can preserve her voice, make it resonate across borders.
“Her voice will continue to echo until accountability is real, until justice is served.”
The best director award went to Benny Safdie for the Smashing Machine, which starred Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson in the role of the real-life mixed martial arts pioneer Mark Kerr. Safdie said: “To be here amongst the giants of the past and the giants here this year, it just blows my mind.”
The special jury award went to Italy’s Gianfranco Rosi for his black-and-white documentary Below the Clouds, about life in the chaotic southern city of Naples, marked by repeated earthquakes and the threat of volcanic eruptions.
Among the movies that left Venice empty-handed were a trio of Netflix pictures: Kathryn Bigelow’s nuclear thriller A House of Dynamite, Guillermo del Toro’s retelling of Frankenstein and Noah Baumbach’s comedy-drama Jay Kelly. No Other Choice by South Korea’s Park Chan-wook also failed to secure an award, despite strong reviews, likewise Bugonia by Yorgos Lanthimos, which starred Emma Stone.
In the press conference following the ceremony, reporters expressed surprise that the Voice of Hind Rajab had been passed over for the Golden Lion. Jury president Alexander Payne said in response: “As a jury, we treasure both of those films equally, each for its own reason. And we wish both of those films a long and important life, and we hope that the support of the awards we’ve given tonight will help them, each in its own way.”
Payne also denied claims that a juror threatened to quit over the awards, saying: “One of my jurors threatened to quit? … No. I think we know … not to believe everything we read online.”
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