Venice Film Festival Reveals 2026 Award Winners: ‘Woman Unknown’ Takes the Golden Lion

See all this year's 2026 Venice Film Festival award winners here.

Updated: Venice has completed its run of award winners on Saturday, with Danish filmmaker May el-Toukhy’s post-World War II Danish resistance thriller “Woman Unknown” taking the Golden Lion. See the full list of winners below. Maggie Gyllenhaal led this year’s jury, which also gave the Best Actress prize to “Woman Unknown” star Mathilde Arcel, who plays a woman tenuously grasping at her social status as people in her orbit start to discover that she had sex with a Nazi. She desperately tries to control the spread of information, but it quickly spirals out of control. The movie is looking for distribution.

Other prize winners include “Possible Love” (Netflix), “NAZA” (acquisitions title), “DAU” (acquisitions title), and Best Actor John Malkovich in “Wild Horse Nine” (Searchlight). He’s locked for an Oscar nomination for his performance as a disillusioned CIA agent in Martin McDonagh’s Easter Island-set dark comedy.

Earlier: The Venice Film Festival wraps up on the beachy strip of the Lido today, with the competition jurors, led by president Maggie Gyllenhaal, naming all the award winners this year.

Tipped for big prizes based on critical and audience reactions are the Gaza documentary “NAZA,” from Oscar-winning “No Other Land” filmmakers Rachel Szor and Yuval Abraham, and which received a historic 25-minute standing ovation; Lee Chang-dong’s widely celebrated Korean entry “Possible Love“; Ilya Khrzhanovsky’s decades-in-the-making Soviet Union epic “DAU,” in which the filmmaker created a real-life “Synecdoche, New York”-like immersive set for this cast and crew; Martin McDonagh’s “Wild Horse Nine” starring John Malkovich, who is locked for a Best Actor Oscar nomination; and May el-Toukhy’s post-World War II Danish resistance thriller “Woman Unknown.”

Until “NAZA” was added late to the lineup, el-Toukhy was the only female director in the competition. While gender-parity issues could cynically factor into the jury vote, the movie stands on its own terms and was well-reviewed at the festival’s 83rd edition. Among the best actress candidates, Jeon Do-yeon is beloved for her turn in Lee’s “Possible Love” as a factory worker who becomes the subject of a rich documentary filmmaker’s project, as are Rooney and Kate Mara for Werner Herzog’s divisive “Bucking Fastard.” As far as Best Actor goes, Robert Pattinson could take home a prize today for his anguished, menacing turn as “To Catch a Predator” host Chris Hansen in Lance Oppenheim’s “Primetime.” The A24 movie has so far not played any other fall festivals.

Also announced today are the winners from the Orizzonti (Horizons) section, dedicated to emerging and daring filmmakers and parallel to Cannes’ Un Certain Regard. French actress/filmmaker Valérie Donzelli serves as president of this year’s Orizzonti jury.

Follow along below for IndieWire’s updating list of winners, and stream the ceremony here also. As a refresh, last year’s Golden Lion went to Jim Jarmusch’s “Father Mother Sister Brother,” a movie that didn’t travel far despite jury president Alexander Payne’s support.

Golden Lion: “Woman Unknown,” May el-Toukhy

Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize: “Possible Love,” Lee Chang-dong

Silver Lion for Best Director: Ilya Khrzhanovsky, “DAU”

Special Jury Prize: “NAZA,” Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor

Best Screenplay: “Un Bon Petit Soldat,” Coralie Amedeo, Stéphane Brizé, Olivier Gorce

Volpi Cup for Best Actress: Mathilde Arcel, “Woman Unknown”

Volpi Cup for Best Actor: John Malkovich, “Wild Horse Nine”

Marcello Mastroianni Best Young Actor Award: Malou Khebizi, “A Place to Heal”

Luigi De Laurentiis Award for Debut Film: “House of the Wind,” Auguste Bernard Kouemo Yanghu

Audience Award — Armani Beauty: “I Matter,” Alina Șerban

Orizzonti Best Film: “Diane in the Loop,” Ann Sirot and Raphaël Balboni

Orizzonti Best Director: Jacqueline Lentzou, “A Day in the Life of Jo: Chapter Phaedra”

Orizzonti Special Jury Prize: “House of the Wind,” Auguste Bernard Kouemo Yanghu

Orizzonti Best Actress: Laleh Marzban, “Falling House”

Orizzonti Best Actor: Riccardo Scamarcio, “The Children of the Monkey”

Orizzonti Best Screenplay: “The Children of the Monkey,” Tommaso Landucci, Damiano Femfert

Orizzonti Best Short Film: “A Few Moments of Happiness,” Shaden Safieddine Tazi

Venice Classics Award for Best Restored Film: “La Lunga Notte del ’43”

Venice Immersive Achievement Prize: “Empire at Sea,” Peter Flaherty

Venice Immersive Special Jury Prize: “Out of the Ashes,” Rory Mitchell and Nonny de la Peña

Venice Immersive Grand Prize: “The Pigeon Ring,” Shixin Tao, Yuqi Zhang