Venice Film Festival jury president Alexander Payne stood by its choice of winners, topped by Jim Jarmusch’s the Father Mother Sister Brother for the Golden Lion, at the closing ceremony press conference on Saturday.
Many had expected Kaouther Ben Hania’s Gaza drama The Voice of Hind Rajab to take the main award, following its record breaking 23 minute, 40 second ovation. Instead, it came in second, winning the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize.
Other hot favorites had included Park Chan-wook’s anarchic black comedy No Other Choice, with its star Lee Byung-hun seen as a strong Best Actor contender, and Ildikó Enyedi’s meditative Silent Friend, while Valeria Bruni Tedeschi had also won strong praise for her performance as acting legend Eleonora Duse in Duse.
Quizzed specifically on the absence of No Other Choice, Payne said:
“We had to make a wonderful selection of 21 films to only eight and I shouldn’t divulge our process, but of course we discussed his film, we loved his film but finally it simply wasn’t in the final eight, which breaks our hearts. It really does.
“We loved many films… That’s the unfair thing of being at a festival, is having to say this is better than that. It’s not,” he added.
Payne was joined in the jury by Oscar-nominated I’m Still Here Brazilian actress Fernanda Torres, Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof, Palme d’Or-winning Romanian director Cristian Mungiu, Italian director Maura Delpero and Chinese actor and producer Zhao Tao.
Jarmusch’s Golden Lion for Father Mother Sister Brother was seen as vindication for the U.S. director who ditched Cannes in April, after the festival offered the film a place in the Cannes Premiere sidebar over a punt at the Palme d’Or.
However, rumours abounded on the social networks earlier in the day that Torres had threatened to quit the jury over Payne’s refusal to award The Voice of Hind Rajab the Golden Lion.
Quizzed about a potential defection at the press conference, Payne shutdown the rumors.
“One of my jurors threatened to quit… I did… no. Did someone threaten to quit,” he then faux mused, adding: “I think we know to live in a world not to believe everything we read on line.”