Italy may have gone home without a major prize, but the women filmmakers at the 2026 Venice Film Festival made their mark. Danish-Egyptian director May el-Toukhy won the Golden Lion for Woman Unknown, while the film’s leading actress, Mathilde Arcel, took home the Volpi Cup.
El-Toukhy, 49, has described herself as “the world’s most famous unknown woman.” Accepting the festival’s top prize, she said the film came from a “need to shine a light on all the unknown women.”
She dedicated the award to her teenage daughter, urging her to carry forward the work of previous generations.
“Passion, community and courage: you will need all three to finish what our generation started,” she said, adding a simple message: “Put down your phone and use your voice to speak out against dehumanization.”
Woman Unknown follows a waitress in 1945 who is preparing to marry her wealthy employer when the legacy of Nazism suddenly returns to disrupt her life. The film emerged as the surprise winner in a competition that had generated considerable attention around several other titles.
Arcel, meanwhile, won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress for her performance. The young actor said it was her first leading role as well as her first appearance at the festival.
“I dedicate this award to the thousands of women who have suffered,” she said.
The result gave particular significance to the presence of women behind the camera. Before the festival began, much of the discussion had focused on the limited number of female directors in competition. Only two women were among the competing directors this year, but both left Venice with major awards under the jury led by Maggie Gyllenhaal.
Rachel Szork, co-director of the documentary Naza with Yuval Abraham, also took the stage to a standing ovation after the film received the Special Jury Prize.
The documentary examines atrocities in Gaza and has already become one of the most politically charged films of the festival.
“It is not easy to stand here,” Abraham said while accepting the award. He criticized those who had attacked the film without seeing it, arguing that there was a wider effort to avoid confronting what was happening in Gaza.
He also referred to the deaths of Palestinian children during the festival and accused Israel of carrying out a deliberate policy rather than an isolated series of incidents.
Abraham called on Israelis to watch the film, as well as European audiences, particularly in Italy and Germany, whose governments he accused of failing to put sufficient pressure on Israel. He also criticized the United States for financially supporting Israel.
The political dimension of the festival was reflected elsewhere in the awards. Ilya Khrzhanovsky, the Russian dissident filmmaker behind Dau, won Best Director for the film’s monumental work. Accompanied by both of his parents, Khrzhanovsky dedicated the award to Ukrainians fighting what he called a terrible war for their freedom.
John Malkovich, who was working on a film set in Montreal and could not attend the ceremony, received the Volpi Cup for Best Actor for Wild Horse Nine.
Malou Khebizi won the Marcello Mastroianni Award for emerging talent for 15/18 (A Place to Heal), while Lee Chang-dong’s Possible Love received the Silver Lion – Grand Jury Prize.
Stéphane Brizé’s Un bon petit soldat, a drama centered on the world of work, won the award for Best Screenplay. Brizé praised his lead actress Alba Rohrwacher, calling her “a genius of acting.”
Italy, meanwhile, failed to win a prize in the main competition despite having five films in contention.
There was some consolation in the Horizons section. Riccardo Scamarcio was named Best Actor for I figli della scimmia, directed by Landucci, which also won the award for Best Screenplay.
During his acceptance speech, Scamarcio shared the moment with the 12-year-old disabled actor who plays his son in the film.
“Did you see, Andrea? We won,” he told him from the stage.
The 2026 Venice Film Festival will return next year from September 1 to 11.
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