69th Venice International Film Festival

The 69th annual Venice International Film Festival, organized by Venice Biennale, took place at Venice Lido from 29 August to 8 September 2012. The festival opened with the Indian director Mira Nair's The Reluctant Fundamentalist, and closed with the Out of Competition film The Man Who Laughs, directed by Jean-Pierre Ameris. Terrence Malick's film To the Wonder was met with both boos and cheers from critics at its premiere.

The Golden Lion for Best Film was won by Pietà, directed by South Korean filmmaker Kim Ki-duk. Paul Thomas Anderson for The Master won the Silver Lion for Best Director. Additionally, American actors Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman shared the prize for Best Actor for that film. Israeli actress Hadas Yaron for her performance in Fill the Void was selected as the Best Actress in the festival.

Juries
The international juries of the 69th Venice International Film Festival included:

Main competition (Venezia 69)

 * Michael Mann, American filmmaker - Jury President
 * Marina Abramović, Serbian performance artist
 * Laetitia Casta, French actress
 * Peter Ho-sun Chan, Hong Kong filmmaker
 * Ari Folman, Israeli filmmaker
 * Matteo Garrone, Italian filmmaker
 * Ursula Meier, French-Swiss filmmaker
 * Samantha Morton, English actress and director
 * Pablo Trapero, Argentine director

Horizons (Orizzonti)

 * Pierfrancesco Favino, Italian actor - Jury President
 * Sandra den Hamer, Dutch director of the International Film Festival Rotterdam
 * Runa Islam, Bangladeshi-born British visual artist and filmmaker
 * Jason Kliot, American independent producer
 * Nadine Labaki, Lebanese actress and filmmaker
 * Milcho Manchevski, Macedonian filmmaker
 * Amir Naderi, Iranian film filmmaker and photographer

Opera Prima (Venice Award for a Debut Film)

 * Shekhar Kapur, Indian film director, actor and producer - Jury President
 * Michel Demopoulos, Greek film critic
 * Isabella Ferrari, Italian actress
 * Matt Reeves, American filmmaker and producer
 * Bob Sinclar, French record producer, DJ, and Yellow Productions owner

In Competition
The following eighteen films were selected for the main competition:

Out of Competition
The following films were selected for the out of competition section:

Horizons
The following films were selected for the Horizons (Orizzonti) section:


 * Highlighted title indicates the Orizzonti Award for Best Feature Film winner.

Venice Classics
The following selection of restored classic films and documentaries on cinema were screened for this section:

«80!»
The following rare films from the Biennale's Historical Archives were screened for this retrospective section:

Special Screenings
The following films of the Official Selection were presented as Special Screenings:

Venice International Film Critics' Week
The following films were selected for the Critics' Week:

Venice Days
The following films were selected for the Venice Days section:

Official Awards
The following Official Awards were conferred at the 69th edition:

In Competition (Venezia 69)

 * Golden Lion: Pietà by Kim Ki-duk
 * Silver Lion for Best Director: Paul Thomas Anderson for The Master
 * Special Jury Prize: Paradise: Faith by Ulrich Seidl
 * Volpi Cup for Best Actor: Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix for The Master
 * Volpi Cup for Best Actress: Hadas Yaron for Fill the Void
 * Marcello Mastroianni Award: Fabrizio Falco for Dormant Beauty and It Was the Son
 * Golden Osella for Best Screenplay: Olivier Assayas for Something in the Air
 * Golden Osella for Best Cinematography: Daniele Cipri for It Was the Son

Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement

 * Francesco Rosi

Horizons (Orizzonti)

 * Best Film: Three Sisters by Wang Bing
 * Special Jury Prize: Tango libre by Frédéric Fonteyne
 * Horizons YouTube Award for Best Short Film: Invitation by Min-Young Yoo
 * European Film Awards (short film): Out Of Frame by Yorgos Zois

"Luigi de Laurentis" Award for a Debut Film

 * Mold by Ali Aydın

Special Awards

 * Persol Tribute to Visionary Talent Award: Michael Cimino
 * Jaeger-LeCoultre Glory to the Filmmaker Award: Spike Lee
 * L’Oréal Paris per il Cinema Award: Giulia Bevilacqua

Independent Sections Awards
The following official and collateral awards were conferred to films of the autonomous sections:

Venice International Film Critics' Week

 * "RaroVideo" Audience Award: Eat Sleep Die by Gabriela Pichler
 * Arca CinemaGiovani Award for Best Italian film: The Ideal City by Luigi Lo Cascio

Venice Days (Giornati degli Autori)

 * Label Europa Cinemas Award: Crawl by Hervé Lasgouttes
 * Lina Mangiacapre Award: Queen of Montreuil by Sólveig Anspach
 * Premio Cinematografico “Civitas Vitae prossima” Award: Terramatta by Costanza Quatriglio

Independent Awards
The following collateral awards were conferred to films of the official selection:

FIPRESCI Awards

 * Best Film (Main competition): The Master by Paul Thomas Anderson
 * Best Film (Horizons): The Interval by Leonardo Di Costanzo

Queer Lion

 * The Weight by Jeon Kyu-hwan

SIGNIS Award

 * To the Wonder by Terrence Malick
 * Special mention: Fill the Void by Rama Burshtein

Francesco Pasinetti (SNGCI) Award

 * Best Film: The Interval by Leonardo Di Costanzo
 * Best Documentary: The Human Cargo by Daniele Vicari
 * Best Actor: Valerio Mastandrea for Balancing Act
 * Pasinetti Speciale: Clarisse by Liliana Cavani

Leoncino d'Oro Agiscuola Award

 * Pieta by Kim Ki-duk

Cinema for UNICEF mention

 * It Was the Son by Daniele Ciprì

Brian Award

 * Dormant Beauty by Marco Bellocchio

Arca CinemaGiovani Award - Venezia 69

 * The Fifth Season by Peter Brosens and Jessica Woodworth

Biografilm Lancia Award

 * The Human Cargo by Daniele Vicari
 * Bad25 by Spike Lee

Bisato d'Oro Award

 * Best Film: Bellas Mariposas by Salvatore Mereu
 * Best Director: Jazmín López for Lions
 * Best Actress: Nora Aunor for Thy Womb

CICT - UNESCO "Enrico Fulchignoni" Award

 * The Interval by Leonardo Di Costanzo

CICAE - Cinema d’Arte e d’Essai Award

 * Wadjda by Haifaa Al Mansour

CinemAvvenire Award

 * Best film - Venezia 69: Paradies: Glaube by Ulrich Seidl
 * Best film - Il cerchio non è rotondo: Wadjda by Haifaa Al Mansour

FEDIC Award

 * The Interval by Leonardo Di Costanzo
 * Special mention: Bellas Mariposas by Salvatore Mereu

Fondazione Mimmo Rotella Award

 * Something in the Air by Olivier Assayas

Future Film Festival Digital Award

 * Bad25 by Spike Lee
 * Special mention: Spring Breakers by Harmony Korine

P. Nazareno Taddei Award

 * Pieta by Kim Ki-duk
 * Special mention: Thy Womb by Brillante Mendoza

Lanterna Magica (CGS) Award

 * The Interval by Leonardo Di Costanzo

Open Award

 * The Company You Keep by Robert Redford

La Navicella – Venezia Cinema Award

 * Thy Womb by Brillante Mendoza

AIF - FORFILMFEST Award

 * The Interval by Leonardo Di Costanzo

Golden Mouse

 * Pieta by Kim Ki-duk
 * Silver Mouse: Anton's Right Here by Lyubov Arkus

UK - Italy Creative Industries Award – Best Innovative Budget Award

 * The Interval by Leonardo Di Costanzo

Gillo Pontecorvo - Arcobaleno Latino Award

 * Laura Delli Colli

Christopher D. Smithers Foundation Award

 * Low Tide by Roberto Minervini

Interfilm Award for Promoting Interreligious Dialogue

 * Wadjda by Haifaa Al Mansour

Giovani Giurati del Vittorio Veneto Film Festival Award

 * The Company You Keep by Robert Redford
 * Special mention: Toni Servillo for It Was the Son

Green Drop Award

 * The Fifth Season by Peter Brosens and Jessica Woodworth

Controversy over Golden Lion
The jury led by filmmaker Michael Mann originally was to award the top Golden Lion prize to Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master, along with the Silver Lion Best Director award and the Best Actor award. However, because of festival's new rule prohibiting pairing the Golden Lion with any other prizes, the jury was asked "to re-deliberate to remove" one of the awards for The Master, and the Golden Lion was awarded to Kim Ki-duk's Pietà instead. On the other hand, the jury was planned to award the Coppa Volpi for the Best Actress prize to Jo Min-su, who acted Jang Mi-sun in Pietà. However, because of the festival's new rule, the jury couldn't award a prize to Jo Min-su. In the official reception which was held after the festival was over, many juries, such as Samantha Morton and Peter Chan met Jo, saying that "Jo's acting was touching that changed my life. I shed tears of Jo's play."