Lav Diaz' 'Ang Babaeng Humayo' Won Golden Lion Best Picture Award At Venice Filmfest

The black-and-white revenge tale "Ang Babaeng Humayo" (The Woman Who Left) by acclaimed director Lav Diaz won the Golden Lion prize for best picture Saturday at the Venice Film Festival.
Andre Konchalovsky and Amat Escalante shared this year's Silver Lion for best direction for their respective films: "Paradise" from Russia and Germany and "The Untamed" from Mexico.

Tom Ford's noir thriller "Nocturnal Animals" from the U.S. won the grand jury prize.
Argentine actor Oscar Martinez of "The Distinguished Citizen" and American actress Emma Stone of "La La Land" won as best actor and best actress.

Noah Oppenheimer won best screenplay for "Jackie," which centers on Jackie Kennedy at the time of John F. Kennedy's assassination. A jury led by British director Sam Mendes chose winners from among 20 movies competing at the 73rd annual festival.


The world's oldest film festival wrapped up Saturday after 11 days that brought stars including Natalie Portman, Chris Pratt and Denzel Washington to the canal-crossed Italian city. Here's the complete list of winners: Golden Lion: Lav Diaz, "The Woman Who Left"; Philippines. Silver Lion director (tie): Andre Konchalovsky, "Paradise"; Russia, Germany. Silver Lion director (tie): Amat Escalante, "The Untamed"; Mexico. Jury grand prize: "Nocturnal Animals," Tom Ford; U.S. Special jury prize: "The Bad Batch," Ana Lily Amirpour; U.S. Actor: Oscar Martinez, "The Distinguished Citizen"; Argentina, Spain. Actress: Emma Stone, "La La Land"; U.S. Screenplay: Noah Oppenheim, "Jackie"; U.S. Marcello Mastroianni Price for Young Performer: Paula Beer, "Frantz"; France. Luigi De Laurentiis Lion of the Future: "The Last of Us," Ala Eddine Slim; Tunisia.



Meantime, Guy Lodge, the chief UK film critic for Variety, wrote that he thinks Charo Santos should have won best actress. But the ruling in Venice is that participating films can only win one award each. He writes there's a loud Oscar buzz for "Ang Babaeng Humayo" and it could garner Academy Award nominations as best pic, best director, best actress and best sound editing. Let's pray that he says is true. We know they're looking for the next entry of the Philippines to the Oscar's best foreign language film category. So here it is! Don't look any further!