Venice Film Fest Predictions

How strange to think of last year’s results for the Golden Lion when Tarantino-led jury chose Sofia Coppola’s Somewhere and from whence it was never seen nor heard from again.  You’ll want to read this piece by Guy Lodge which, I think, gives an interesting rundown on Venice and their award history.  At any rate, he closes it with his predictions of how he thinks it will go and how he wishes it would go:

WILL WIN

Golden Lion: “Shame,” Steve McQueen
Silver Lion (Best Director): “Alps,” Yorgos Lanthimos
Grand Jury Prize: “Faust,” Aleksandr Sokurov
Best Actor: Michael Fassbender, “Shame”
Best Actress: Deannie Yip, “A Simple Life”
Best Screenplay: Eran Kolirin, “The Exchange”
Outstanding Technical Contribution: Robbie Ryan, “Wuthering Heights”
Best Young Actor: Juno Temple, “Killer Joe”

SHOULD WIN

Golden Lion: “Alps,” Yorgos Lanthimos
Silver Lion (Best Director): “Wuthering Heights,” Andrea Arnold
Grand Jury Prize: “Shame,” Steve McQueen
Best Actor: Christoph Waltz, “Carnage”
Best Actress: Carey Mulligan, “Shame”
Best Screenplay: Yorgos Lanthimos, “Alps”
Outstanding Technical Contribution: Robbie Ryan, “Wuthering Heights”
Best Young Actor: Juno Temple, “Killer Joe”

I find these jury awards are very difficult to predict.  I would have thought that Black Swan would have been the easy choice last year, but, as Lodge points out, there might not have been the sentiment to push it forward as it seemed like it would go far in the awards race.  Do they think about stuff like that? I don’t know.  But this year, the jury is headed up by Darren Aronofsky.  I haven’t seen most of the films up for the award but having seen Shame I can’t believe it won’t win.