Venice Goes for the Unknown

The jury at the Venice Film Festival have been an unpredictable group over the last few years and the deciders at the 2026 edition have followed suit. As the event draws to a close today, May el-Toukhy’s post-WWII drama Woman Unknown has taken the Golden Lion (the fest’s top prize) with lead Mathilde Arcel as Best Actress. This was not a pic that prognosticators were selecting.

The Dutch production isn’t slated to release in its home country until February 2027. It will be interesting to see of those plans are altered or if a stateside launch comes prior to this year’s end. If so, Unknown is at least a possibility for International Feature Film. However, four of the past five Lion recipients haven’t made it into the BP derby at the Oscars with the exception being 2023’s Poor Things. Unknown probably makes it five of six.

Lee Chang-dong’s Possible Love is the Silver Lion victor (second place). One of the best reviewed features out of Italy, the South Korean drama (already announced as their IFF competitor) and Netflix acquisition is a real threat to make the cut in that race.

Set in a Soviet research facility across five decades, Ilya Khrzhanosky is the Best Director for DAU which could be picked up by a number of countries as their IFF hopeful.

There was some love for domestic product as John Malkovich is Best Actor for Martin McDonagh’s acclaimed Wild Horse Nine. There’s not a strong history between this award at Venice and taking home gold at Oscar. In fact, it has somehow never happened in the 82 previous years. The last Venice recipient to get an Academy nom was Colin Farrell for 2022’s The Banshees of Inisherin. Prior to that, it was Willem Dafoe for At Eternity’s Gate. Malkovich has a real shot at being the first to win both based on WOM from the fest.

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