Venice Film Festival Awards 2006: Starring Helen Mirren, Stephen Frears’ The Queen wins Golden Lion
“Thank you, Tony Blair, for timing your political disintegration with the release of our film.” That’s The Queen’s screenwriter Peter Morgan, winner of the Best Screenplay Award at this year’s Venice Film Festival. In The Queen, which was directed by Stephen Frears, Coppa Volpi for Best Actress winner Helen Mirren plays Queen Elizabeth II, at odds with the Blair government following the death of Princess Diana. (For those into betting on future Oscar nominees, Mirren is a cinch – and she has a very good chance of actually winning the award.)
The surprise Golden Lion winner was Jia Zhang-Ke’s Sanxia Haoren / Still Life. A late entry at the festival, Still Life portrays the plight of the people of Fengjie, a village destroyed by the building of the Three Gorges dam. More than 1 million Chinese have been forced to relocate because of the dam.
Another surprise winner was Ben Affleck, who was awarded the Coppa Volpi for Best Actor for his performance as actor George Reeves in the film noir Hollywoodland, about the death of TV’s Superman.
The Best Director was 84-year-old veteran Alain Resnais for Coeurs / Private Fears in Public Places, which had been one of the top contenders for the Golden Lion. Resnais’ Last Year at Marienbad had won the Golden Lion back in 1961.
Mahamat-Saleh Haroun’s Daratt, about the lingering effects of Chad’s civil war, took the Special Jury Prize.
The Great Italian Hope, Gianni Amelio’s The Missing Star / La stella che non c’è failed to win a single major award.
Venice Film Festival Awards 2006
Full list of Main Competition honorees. Partial list of other Biennale winners.
Golden Lion for Best Film: Still Life / Sanxia Haoren – Dir.: Jia Zhang-Ke
Special Jury Prize: Daratt – Dir.: Mahamat-Saleh Haroun
Silver Lion for Best Director: Alain Resnais – Private Fears in Public Places / Coeurs
Silver Lion Revelation: Emanuele Crialese – Golden Door / Nuovomondo
Volpi Cup for Best Actress: Helen Mirren – The Queen
Volpi Cup for Best Actor: Ben Affleck – Hollywoodland
Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Performer: Isild Le Besco – L’Intouchable
Osella for Best Screenplay: The Queen – Peter Morgan
Osella for Best Technical Contribution: Cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki – Children of Men by Alfonso Cuarón
Special Lion: Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet for innovation in the language of cinema
Horizons Prize: Mabei shang de fating by Liu Jie
Horizons Documentary Prize: When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts by Spike Lee
Lion of the Future by Premio Venezia Opera Prima “Luigi De Laurentiis”: Khadak by Peter Brosens and Jessica Woodworth
Corto Cortissimo Lion for Best Short Film: Comment on freine dans une descente? by Alix Delaporte
Prix UIP for Best European Short Film: The Making of Parts by Daniel Elliott
Special Mention: Adults Only by Yeo Joon Han
FIPRESCI Award: The Queen by Stephen Frears
Signis (Ecumenical) Award: Nuovomondo / Golden Door by Emanuele Crialese
Special Mention: Daratt by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun
Leoncino D’Oro / Little Golden Lion:Euphoria by Ivan Vyrypaev
Cinema for Unicef – Leoncino Agiscuola Award:Nuovomondo / Golden Door by Emanuele Crialese
“Fulchignoni” Award (Unesco): Daratt by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun
Critics’ Week Award: A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints by Dito Montiel
EIUC (Inter-University European Center) Human Rights Film Award: Daratt by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun
Europa Cinema Label – Venice Days:Azuloscurocasinegro / DarkBlueAlmostBlack by Daniel Sanchez-Arévalo
FEDIC Award: Nuovomondo / Golden Door by Emanuele Crialese
Open Award: Dong by Jia Zhang-Ke
Doc/ It award (tie): Dong by Jia Zhang-Ke and Ana alati tahmol azouhour ila qabriha’ by Hala AlabdallaYakoub and Ammar Al Beik
Laterna Magica Award (Cgs): Children of Men by Alfonso Cuarón
Arcobaleno Latino Awards: Lettere dal Sahara by Vittorio De Seta
National Union of Italian Film Journalists: Nuovomondo / Golden Door by Emanuele Crialese
Foundation Mimmo Rotella Prize: La Stella che non c’è / The Missing Star by Gianni Amelio
Isvema Award: A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints by Dito Montiel
Future Film Festival Digital Award: Inland Empire by David Lynch and The Banquet by Feng Xiaogang
La Navicella Award: Daratt by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun
Pietro Bianchi Award: Marco Bellocchio
Cinemavvenire (Cinema of the Future) Awards:
Official Competition: Nuovomondo / Golden Door by Emanuele Crialese
“Cinema for Peace and Diversity” Award: I Don’t Want to Sleep Alone by Tsai Ming-Liang
Human Rights Film Network Award:
Special Mention: Daratt by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun
“Francesco Pasinetti” Awards (Sngci):
Best Film: Nuovomondo / Golden Door by Emanuele Crialese
Special Mention: La Stella che non c’è / The Missing Starby Gianni Amelio
Best Actor: Sergio Castellitto in La Stella che non c’è / The Missing Star
Best Actress: Laura Morante in Coeurs / Private Fears in Public Places
Arca CinemaGiovani Award:
Best International Film: Zwartboek / Black Book by Paul Verhoeven
Best Italian film: La Reducazione / The Reeducation by Davide Alfonsi, Alessandro Fusto, Denis Malagnino, and Daniele Guerrini
Grand Jury: Catherine Deneuve (president), José Juan Bigas Luna, Paulo Branco, Cameron Crowe, Chulpan Khamatova, Park Chan-wook, Michele Placido
Horizons Jury: Philip Gröning (president), Carlo Carlei, Yousri Nasrallah, Giuseppe Genna, Kusakabe Keiko
Opera Prima (first film) Jury: Paula Wagner (president), Guillermo Del Toro, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Andrei Plakhov, Stefania Rocca
Corto Cortissimo (short film) Jury: Teboho Mahlatsi (president), Francesca Calvelli, Aleksej Fedorcenko
Grand Jury: Catherine Deneuve (president), José Juan Bigas Luna, Paulo Branco, Cameron Crowe, Chulpan Khamatova, Park Chan-wook, Michele Placido
“Venice Film Festival Awards 2006: Resnais, Mirren” notes
Venice Film Festival website.
*last modified in March 2026.