Lions of Venice.

Mike Leigh's Vera Drake has won the Golden Lion and its star, Imelda Staunton, has picked up the "Coppa Volpi for Best Actress" at the Venice Film Festival. Alejandro Amenábar's Mar adentro (Out to Sea) has come in a solid second, winning the Silver Lion and the Best Actor award for Javier Bardem. And Kim Ki-duk has been honored with a Special Award for Best Direction for his latest, Bin Jip.

Here's the full list of award-winners; Reuters's Shasta Darlington breaks it down, but adds that the results are "likely to spark controversy in Italy for the second year in a row after top newspapers announced Le chiavi di casa (The House Keys), the new feature film by native son Gianni Amelio, was the de facto winner as early as Friday. The daily La Repubblica said Saturday that festival heads Davide Croff and Marco Muller could be swept from their jobs 'by vindictive powers' if the Italian film missed out."

Posted by dwhudson at September 11, 2004 12:25 PM