Venice Film Festival 2025: The full winners list

Posted On September 7, 2025September 7, 2025

Italian actor and comedian Emanuela Fanelli drew the Venice Film Festival to a close over the weekend, with the closing ceremony taking place on September 6th.

This year’s festival, the 82nd event since its initial foundation back in 1932, saw the likes of Jim Jarmusch, Benny Safdie, and Gianfranco Rosi sweep up major awards at the ceremony. The festival’s coveted Golden Lion award for ‘Best Film’ went to Jarmusch for his latest comedy ensemble film, Father Mother Sister Brother, while ‘Best Director’ went to Benny Safdie for The Smashing Machine. 

Accepting his award, Jarmusch noted, per Variety, “As filmmakers, we’re not motivated by competition, but this is something I truly appreciate”. He also thanked the audience and jury panel and Venice for responding so passionately to what he referred to as “our quiet film”.

Aside from Jarmusch’s win, this year’s festival has been dominated by talk, debate, and protest relating to the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Over the course of the event, many filmmakers, organisers, and audiences alike have participated in various pro-Palestine demonstrations. 

As such, a lot of talk around the festival centred around Kaouther Ben Hania’s docudrama The Voice of Hind Rajab, which is set in the heart of Gaza. Hania took home the Grand Jury Prize for her film, centred around the murder of Hind Rajab, a five-year-old girl killed by Israeli forces during the invasion of Gaza in January 2024.

During an impassioned acceptance speech, the filmmaker dedicated her win to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society. “Hind’s voice was a cry for rescue the entire world could hear, but no one answered,” the filmmaker declared in her speech. “Her voice will continue to echo until accountability and justice is served. Cinema cannot bring her back nor can it erase the atrocity that was committed against her. But cinema can preserve her voice.”

See the full list of winners at this year’s Venice Film Festival below.

Venice Film Festival 2025: The complete winners list:

Main competition

• Golden Lion for Best Film: Father Mother Sister Brother – Jim Jarmusch
• Grand Jury Prize: The Voice of Hind Rajab – Kaouther Ben Hania
• Special Jury Prize: Below the Clouds – Gianfranco Rosi
• Silver Lion for Best Director: The Smashing Machine – Benny Safdie
• Best Screenplay: À pied d’œuvre – Valérie Donzelli and Gilles Marchand
• Volpi Cup for Best Actress: The Sun Rises on Us All – Xin Zhilei
• Volpi Cup for Best Actor: La grazia – Toni Servillo
• Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor: Silent Friend – Luna Welder
• Luigi De Laurentiis Award for Debut Film: Short Summer – Nastia Korkia

Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement

• Werner Herzog
• Kim Novak

Horizons

• Best Film: En el camino – David Pablos
• Best Director: Songs of Forgotten Trees – Anuparna Roy
• Special Jury Prize: Harà Watan – Akio Fujimoto
• Best Actress: Il Rapimento di Arabella – Benedetta Porcaroli
• Best Actor: Un Anno di Scuola – Giacomo Covi,
• Best Screenplay: Hiedra – Ana Cristina Barragán
• Best Short Film: Without Kelly – Lovisa Sirén
• Audience Award: Calle Málaga – Maryam Touzani

Venice Classics

• Best Documentary on Cinema: Mata Hari – Joe Beshenkovsky and James A. Smith
• Best Restored Film: Bashu, the Little Stranger – Bahram Beizai

Venice Immersive

• Grand Prize: The Clouds Are Two Thousand Meters Up – Singing Chen
• Special Jury Prize: Less Than 5gr of Saffron – Négar Motevalymeidanshah
• Achievement Prize: A Long Goodbye – Kate Voet and Victor Maes

Related Topics