The Shape Of Water: 'The right mix of aesthetics, heart and sheer technical mastery' Photo: Fox Searchlight |
"I believe in life, I believe in love and I believe in cinema," said the director as he picked up the award for his film about a mute cleaning woman who falls for a fish-man (Doug Jones). He added: "If you remain pure and stay with your faith, whatever you have faith in, in my case it's monsters, eventually things go right."
The Silver Lion Grand Jury prize went to Samuel Maoz's satire Foxtrot, starring Lior Ashkenazi and Sarah Adler, while Xavier Legrand saw his domestic abuse drama Custody pick up the Lion of The Future and Silver Lion for best director.
The best actress award went to Charlotte Rampling for her role as a woman struggling to cope with her husband's imprisonment in Andrea Pallaoro's Hannah. Kamel El Basha was named best actor for Ziad Doueiri's courtroom drama The Insult. The Marello Mastroianni award for the best young actor went to Charlie Plummer for his breakthrough role in Lean on Pete.
Earlier the FIPRESCI award, presented by a jury of international critics, went to Frederick Wiseman's Ex Libris: New York Public Library.
Full list of awards:
Golden Lion: The Shape of Water, Guillermo del Toro
Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize: Foxtrot, Samuel Maoz
Silver Lion Best Director: Custody, Xavier Legrand
Volpi Cup for Best Actress: Charlotte Rampling for Hannah, Andrea Pallaoro
Volpi Cup for Best Actor: Kamel El Basha for The Insult, Ziad Doueiri
Best Screenplay Award: Martin McDonagh, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Special Jury Prize: Sweet Country, Warwick Thornton
Marcello Mastroianni Award: Charlie Plummer for Lean on Pete, Andrew Haigh
Horizons Awards
Best Film: Nico, 1988, Susanna Nicchiarelli
Best Director: No Date, No Signature, Vahid Jalilvand
Special Jury Prize: Caniba, Verena Paravel, Lucien Castaing-Taylor
Best Actress: Lyna Khoudri, The Blessed, Sofia Djama
Best Actor: Navid Mohammadzadeh for No Date, No Signature, Vahid Jalilvand
Best Screenplay: Dominique Welinski, Rene Ballesteros for Oblivion Verses, Alireza Khatami
Lion of the Future Luigi De Laurentiis Award for a Debut Film: Custody, Xavier Legrand
Venice Classics
Best Documentary on Cinema: The Prince and the Dybbuk, Elwira Niewiera, Piotr Rosolowski
Best Restored Film: Idi i smotri, Elem Klimov
Venice VR
Best VR Film: Arden's Wake, Eugene YK Chung
Best VR Experience Award: La camera insabbiata, Laurie Anderson and Hsin-Chien Huang
Best VR Story Award: Bloodless, Gina Kim
Read our coverage here.