The Venezuelan film From Afar won Golden Lion award of 72 nd Venice film festival 2015

The Venezuelan film, Desde Alla, or From Afar has won the top Golden Lion prize at the Venice film festival. A low-profile film from an unknown first-time director  carried away the Venice film festival’s prestigious top prize the Golden Lion. Lorenzo Vigas’s film From Afar (Desde Allá) par excelled the works from such high-profile names as Charlie Kaufman, Tom Hooper,  Laurie Anderson and Alexander Sokurov. This dark drama, about the relationship between a middle-aged gay man and a violent young street tough, was certainly one of the discoveries of the festival.In From Afar - the first Venezuelan film ever to play in competition in Venice was selected by Jury president Alfonso Cuaron, Emmanuel Carrère Pawel Pawlikowski, Lynne Ramsay, Taiwan’s Hou Hsiao-hsien and Turkey’s Nuri Bilge Ceylan. Francesco Munzi, Diane Kruger and  Elizabeth Banks. Other award:

Golden Lion: From Afar (Lorenzo Vigas)

Silver Lion for Best Director: Pablo Trapero (The Clan)

Grand Jury Prize: Anomalisa (Charlie Kaufman, Duke Johnson)

Volpi Cup for Best Actor: Fabrice Luchini (L’Hermine)

Volpi Cup for Best Actress: Valeria Golino (Per Amor Vostro)

Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor: Abraham Attah, (Beasts Of No Nation)

Best Screenplay: Christian Vincent (L’Hermine)

Special Jury Prize:

 Frenzy (Emin Alper)Venice Horizons

Best Film: Free In Deed (Jake Mahaffy)

Best Director: Brady Corbet (The Childhood of a Leader)

Special Jury Prize: Neon Bull (Gabriel Mascaro)

Special Prize for Best Actor: Dominique Leborne (Tempête)

Best Short Film: Belladonna (Dubravka Turic)

Lion of the Future – “Luigi De Laurentiis” Venice Award for a Debut Film: The Childhood of a Leader (Brady Corbet)

Venice Classics

Best Documentary on Cinema: The 1000 Eyes of Dr Maddin (Yves Montmayeur)

Best Restoration: Salo, or The 120 Days of Sodom (Pier Paolo Pasolini)