Venice Closes With a Golden Lion for 'Woman Unknown' and a Jury Prize for 'NAZA'

The 83rd Venice film festival closed on Saturday with the Golden Lion going to 'Woman Unknown', a drama directed by May el-Toukhy that follows a Danish servant in the uneasy years after the Second World War, according to the New York Times. Lee Chang-dong's 'Possible Love' took the runner-up award. The special jury prize went to 'NAZA', directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor and produced by the Guardian.

The Guardian reported that el-Toukhy becomes the eighth female director to win the festival's top prize. The paper's critics, in a separate piece, described the winners' list as 'bold and bravura choices' and argued that a festival which had faced heavy criticism over the small number of women in its main competition may have redeemed itself with its awards.

'NAZA', shot at night on the rooftops of Tel Aviv, was described by the Guardian as an exposé of the systems behind Israel's mass killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza. The paper quoted its directors saying after the win that it was important Israelis watch the film.