At 18.47 on Saturday, the 9th I’m heading across the festival area after a long and exciting two weeks. It’s almost quiet in comparison to when George Clooney walked across the carpet with only a few fans for the newest Takeshi Kitano movie waiting outside. In a few minutes the awards ceremony will begin in the Sala Grande. My friends and I watch the finely dressed evening crowd pass by to their guest-list-only-parties and head out past the private beaches and the excluxive Excelsior Hotel to where the Lido locals take a swim and have built little huts out of stranded, sun bleached wood on the wave breakers.

In the morning we got invitations via Email for the press conference of Kitanos ‚Outrage Coda‘ that is closing the festival this night. Apparently the press have already left, as well as some of the industry people, who deal in book rights and production in Venice. Most of the important events have come and gone, reviews have been written and opinions stated, what comes now is waiting for the winners. Next to an Aperol Spritz (apparently the venetian drink as Prosecco was developed in the nearby Treviso) we discuss our favorites and our least liked, refreshing the page every few minutes and otherwise enjoying the seaside at night.

And then the results are out in the open and I’m happy to find four of my favorites selected. Both ‚Foxtrot‘ and ‚Caniba‘ have won; the first with the Grand Jury Price and the second with the Special Jury Price in the Orizzonti section. ‚Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri‘ by Matthew McDonagh has won Best Screenplay which I’m very happy for, but find that it has a weak third part in terms of character development of the main character. Still a great script no doubt with razorsharp wit, even getting spontaneous applause after a short monologue with an amazing Frances McDormand in the lead. I’m happy not to see ‚First Reformed‘ by Paul Schrader or ‚Mektoub, my Love: Canto Uno‘ by Abdellatif Kechiche, you’ll probably be able to read why later, because I might still make a review out of the furious notes I took after the screenings. It might even be therapeutic, who knows. The same is true in an entirely positive way for ‚Los Versos del Olvido (Oblivion Verses)‘ by writer-director Alizera Khatami, who won Best Screenplay in the Orizzonti section and has convinced me with his magically realistic story about memory and death.

Before I get to a second drink and dipping my feet into the water for a last time. Here’s the full list of winners:

VENICE 74
Golden Lion
The Shape Of Water, dir: Guillermo del Toro

Grand Jury Prize
Foxtrot, Samuel Maoz

Silver Lion, Best Director
Xavier Legrand, Jusqu’à La Garde

Volpi Cup, Best Actress
Charlotte Rampling, Hannah

Volpi Cup, Best Actor
Kamel El Basha, The Insult

Best Screenplay
Martin McDonagh, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Special Jury Prize
Sweet Country, dir: Warwick Thornton

Marcello Mastroianni Award for for Best New Young Actor or Actress
Charlie Plummer, Lean On Pete

VENICE HORIZONS
Best Film
Nico, 1988, dir: Susanna Nicchiarelli

Best Director
Vahid Jalilvand, No Date, No Signature

Special Jury Prize
Caniba, dirs: Lucien Castaing-Taylor, Verena Paravel

Best Actress
Lyna Khoudri, Les Bienheureux

Best Actor
Navid Mohammadzadeh, No Date, No Signature

Best Screenplay
Los Versos Del Olvido, dir: Alireza Khatami

Best Short Film
Gros Chagrin, dir: Céline Devaux

Lion of the Future – “Luigi De Laurentiis” Venice Award for a Debut Film
Jusqu’à La Garde, dir: Xavier Legrand

VENICE CLASSICS
Best Restoration
Idi I Smotri, dir: Elem Klimov

Best Documentary on Cinema
The Prince And The Dybbuk, dirs: Elwira Niewiera, Piotr Rosolowski

VENICE VIRTUAL REALITY
Best VR
Arden’s Wake (Expanded), dir: Eugene YK Chung

Best VR Experience
La Camera Insabbiata, dirs: Laurie Anderson, Hsin-Chien Huang

Best VR Story
Bloodless, dir: Gina Kim