Venice 82: Servillo wins the Coppa Volpi, 'Below the Clouds’ the Special Jury Award
Italy took home two important awards from the 82nd Venice Film Festival which closed with the presentation of the Golden Lion to Jim Jarmusch for Father Mother Sister Brother (USA, Ireland, France).
Toni Servillo was awarded the Coppa Volpi for Best Actor for his performance of an Italian President riven with doubt by requests for pardon in Paolo Sorrentino's La Grazia, which opened the 82nd Venice Film Festival. Produced by The Apartment and Numero 10, the film also won the Rotella Award and a special mention for Best Soundtrack. Filmed in Rome and Turin, it will be released in cinemas by Piper Film on January 15, 2026.
"We are thrilled and delighted for Toni Servillo, whose starring role in the beautiful film written and directed by the great maestro Paolo Sorrentino, has placed Turin and Piedmont virtually at the centre of the festival’s closing ceremony" said Beatrice Borgia and Paolo Manera for Film Commission Torino Piemonte. They continued: “Our region has been showcased thanks to his unforgettable performance as President Mariano De Santis: with its offer of locations, professional settings, and top-notch talent, behind and on the screen as Turin actors Linda Messerklinger and Roberto Zibetti demonstrate, that have enhanced the film's narrative, history, and message".
Gianfranco Rosi's documentary Below the Clouds won the Special Jury Prize. Shot in black and white, the director travels in the steps of History, examining memories of land beneath the ground, where a lesser-known Naples is densely populated, in the area between the Gulf and Vesuvius, where the earth sometimes trembles and the fumaroles of the Campi Flegrei hang in the air. Produced by 21uno Film, Stemal Entertainment, and Rai Cinema, it is scheduled for theatrical distribution from September 18 by 01 Distribution.
The Orizzonti Section awarded Best Actress and Best Actor to Benedetta Porcaroli - for Arabella by Carolina Cavalli (Italy) and Giacomo Covi for Un Anno di Scuola by Laura Samani (Italy, France).
Arabella tells the story of the encounter between 28-year-old Holly and a little girl named Arabella who convinces her that she has rediscovered her childhood self.
Set in Trieste in 2007, Un Anno di Scuola tells the story of a Swedish girl whose arrival in the last year of school upsets the lives of three lifelong friends.
Venice 82 – All the winners
Official Competition
- Golden Lion for Best Film: Father Mother Sister Brother by Jim Jarmusch (USA, Ireland, France);
- Silver Lion – Grand Jury Prize: The Voice of Hind Rajab by Kaouther Ben Hania (Tunisia, France);
- Silver Lion – Best Director Award: Benny Safdie for The Smashing Machine (USA)
- Coppa Volpi for Best Actress: Xin Zhilei, The Sun Rises on Us All (China);
- Coppa Volpi for Best Actor: Toni Servillo, La Grazia by Paolo Sorrentino (Italy);
- Best Screenplay: Valérie Donzelli and Gilles Marchand for À Pied D’œuvre by Valérie Donzelli (France);
- Special Jury Prize: Below the Clouds by Gianfranco Rosi (Italy);
- Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Emerging Young Actor or Actress: Luna Wedler, Silent Friend by Ildikó Enyedi (Germany, Hungary, France).
Orizzonti
- Orizzonti Award for Best Film: On The Road by David Pablos (Mexico);
- Orizzonti Award for Best Director: Anuparna Roy for Songs of Forgotten Trees (India);
- Orizzonti Special Jury Prize: Lost Land by Akio Fujimoto (Japan, France, Malaysia, Germany);
- Orizzonti Award for Best Actress: Benedetta Porcaroli, Arabella by Carolina Cavalli (Italy);
- Orizzonti Award for Best Actor: Giacomo Covi, ??Un Anno di Scuola by Laura Samani (Italy, France);
- Orizzonti Award for Best Screenplay: Ana Cristina Barragán, Hiedra (The Ivy) (Ecuador);
- Orizzonti Award for Best Short Film: Utan Kelly (Without Kelly) by Lovisa Sirén (Sweden).