{"id":125480,"date":"2025-09-07T01:10:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-07T01:10:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/125480\/"},"modified":"2025-09-07T01:10:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-07T01:10:07","slug":"venice-jury-president-alexander-payne-defends-choices-of-winners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/125480\/","title":{"rendered":"Venice Jury President Alexander Payne Defends Choices Of Winners"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tVenice<\/a> Film Festival jury president Alexander Payne<\/a> stood by its choice of winners, topped by Jim Jarmusch<\/a>\u2019s the Father Mother Sister Brother<\/a> for the Golden Lion, at the closing ceremony press conference on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\n\tMany had expected Kaouther Ben Hania\u2019s Gaza drama The Voice of Hind Rajab<\/a> to take the main award, following its record breaking 23 minute, 40 second ovation<\/a>. Instead, it came in second, winning the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize.<\/p>\n

\n\tOther hot favorites had included Park Chan-wook\u2019s anarchic black comedy No Other Choice<\/a>, with its star Lee Byung-hun seen as a strong Best Actor contender, and Ildik\u00f3 Enyedi\u2019s meditative Silent Friend, while Valeria Bruni Tedeschi\u00a0had also won strong praise for her performance as acting legend Eleonora Duse in Duse.<\/p>\n

Jury president Alexander Payne on why Park Chan-wook\u2019s \u2018No Other Choice\u2019 didn\u2019t win any prizes at the #VeniceFilmFestival<\/a>: \u201cIt simply wasn\u2019t in the final 8, which breaks our hearts. We love many films that aren\u2019t represented in the final 8\u201d pic.twitter.com\/7v0VSO0Zjs<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Deadline (@DEADLINE) September 6, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tQuizzed specifically on the absence of No Other Choice, Payne said:<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe had to make a wonderful selection of 21 films to only eight and I shouldn\u2019t divulge our process, but of course we discussed his film, we loved his film but finally it simply wasn\u2019t in the final eight, which breaks our hearts. It really does.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe loved many films\u2026 That\u2019s the unfair thing of being at a festival, is having to say this is better than that. It\u2019s not,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\n\tPayne was joined in the jury by Oscar-nominated I\u2019m Still Here Brazilian actress Fernanda Torres, Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof, Palme d\u2019Or-winning Romanian director Cristian Mungiu, Italian director Maura Delpero and Chinese actor and producer Zhao Tao.<\/p>\n

\n\tJarmusch\u2019s Golden Lion for Father Mother Sister Brother was seen as vindication for the U.S. director who ditched Cannes in April, after the festival offered the film a place in the Cannes Premiere sidebar over a punt at the Palme d\u2019Or.<\/p>\n

\n\tHowever, rumours abounded on the social networks earlier in the day that Torres had threatened to quit the jury over Payne\u2019s refusal to award The Voice of Hind Rajab the Golden Lion.<\/p>\n

\n\tQuizzed about a potential defection at the press conference, Payne shutdown the rumors.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cOne of my jurors threatened to quit\u2026 I did\u2026 no. Did someone threaten to quit,\u201d he then faux mused, adding: \u201cI think we know to live in a world not to believe everything we read on line.\u201d<\/p>\n