Venice 2026: 'Woman Unknown' Wins Golden Lion; Malkovich and Arcel Take Acting Honours

May El-Toukhy's Danish drama Woman Unknown has won the Golden Lion for Best Film at the 2026 Venice Film Festival, capping an edition in which the festival's top acting prizes went to John Malkovich and Mathilde Arcel.

The film follows a young housemaid whose intimate relationship with a German soldier during World War II places her future in jeopardy. It was the only entry in the main competition directed solely by a woman.

Accepting the award, El-Toukhy thanked jury president Maggie Gyllenhaal for drawing attention to the unequal opportunities facing women filmmakers. She said the film had been difficult to make financially, logistically and emotionally, and that what sustained her was the need to bring the "unknown women" of shared history into view.

Gyllenhaal had raised the issue earlier in the festival, describing a systemic problem in which women find it harder to secure financing for films.

Malkovich, 72, received the Volpi Cup for Best Actor for his portrayal of an eccentric CIA agent in Wild Horse Nine. He was filming another project in Montreal and accepted the honour by video, saying he was humbled to join the ranks of actors recognised over the festival's 83 editions. He thanked director Martin McDonagh for the screenplay and the role, and his co-stars, singling out Sam Rockwell.

Arcel took the Volpi Cup for Best Actress for her work in Woman Unknown. The award marked her first lead role in a film, her first festival appearance and her first film prize. She said she felt extremely honoured and lucky to receive it in Venice among filmmakers and performers she had admired all her life.

The Grand Jury Prize, the competition's second-highest honour, went to Lee Chang-dong's South Korean drama Possible Love, about two married couples from different social classes. Lee, speaking through a translator, said the film asks what cinema can and should do at a time when the meaning of labour is fading and human connections are increasingly severed. The film will represent South Korea in the Oscars international feature race.

Russian dissident Ilya Khrzhanovsky won the Silver Lion for Best Director for DAU, a three-hour-and-15-minute work two decades in the making. He dedicated the prize to Ukrainians fighting in the war and to his mother, who was born in Ukraine shortly before the Nazis arrived.

The Special Jury Prize went to NAZA, a documentary on the conflict in Gaza by No Other Land co-directors Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor. Abraham said it was not easy to stand before the audience while Israeli politicians and journalists attacked the film without having seen it, adding that much is being done to avoid looking at reality.

The ceremony also honoured Oscar-winning British producer Jeremy Thomas, who died on Friday at 77. Gianluca Farinelli, head of Italy's Bologna Film Archives and artistic director of the David di Donatello Awards, said Thomas loved cinema made by humans rather than AI and deeply loved Italy, noting his work with great Italian directors. Thomas won the Best Picture Oscar for Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor in 1988 and made five features with the director over 17 years. Riccardo Scamarcio, who won the Horizons Best Actor prize for The Children of the Monkey, also paid tribute.

The competition jury was led by Gyllenhaal and included Kaouther Ben Hania, Johnnie To, Shahrbanoo Sadat, Xavier Giannoli, Daniel Blumberg and Francesco Casetti.

Other awards included Best Screenplay for Un Bon Petit Soldat to Stephane Brize, Coralie Amedeo and Olivier Gorce; the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor to Malou Khebizi for 15/18 (A Place to Heal); the Armani Beauty Audience Award to Alina Șerban's Eu contez; and the Luigi De Laurentiis Award for Debut Film to Auguste Bernard Kouemo Yanghu's La maison du vent.

In the Horizons section, Best Film went to Ann Sirot and Raphael Balboni's Un détour par Diane, with Jaqueline Lentzou named Best Director for Mia Mera Sti Zoi Tis Tzo: Kefalaio Faidra. Laleh Marzban won Best Actress for Moragheb and Scamarcio Best Actor for I figli della scimmia, whose writers Tommaso Landucci and Damiano Femfert took Best Screenplay. Shaden Safieddine Tazi's Quelques instants de bonheur won Best Short Film.

Venice Classics recognised Florestano Vancini's restored La lunga notte del '43, while the Immersive section gave its Grand Prize to The Pigeon Ring by Shixin Tao and Yuqi Zhang, a Special Jury Prize to Out of the Ashes by Rory Mitchell and Nonny de la Peña, and an Achievement Prize to Peter Flaherty's Empire at Sea.

Held annually on the Lido di Venezia, the Venice Film Festival is the world's oldest and most prestigious event of its kind. Its 83rd edition concluded on September 12, 2026.