Golden Lion

According to the Biennale's official website, this hiatus was a result of the 1968 Lion being awarded to the radically experimental Die Artisten in der Zirkuskuppel: Ratlos; the website says that the awards "still had a statute dating back to the fascist era and could not side-step the general political climate.

Eight American filmmakers have won the Golden Lion, with awards for John Cassavetes and Robert Altman (both times the awards were shared with other winners who tied), as well as Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain was the first winning US film not to tie), Darren Aronofsky, Sofia Coppola, Todd Phillips, Chloé Zhao, and Laura Poitras.

Other Asians to win the Golden Lion since 1980 include Jia Zhangke, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Tsai Ming-liang, Trần Anh Hùng, Takeshi Kitano, Kim Ki-duk, Jafar Panahi, Mira Nair, and Lav Diaz.

Since 1949, only seven women have ever won the Golden Lion for directing: Margarethe von Trotta, Agnès Varda, Mira Nair, Sofia Coppola, Chloé Zhao, Audrey Diwan, and Laura Poitras (though in 1938, German director Leni Riefenstahl won the Festival when its highest award was the Coppa Mussolini).

[7][8][9] After the end of the WWII, during the reestablishment of the festival, The Southerner, directed by Jean Renoir, won the main prize at the 1946 edition.

Golden Lion prize trophy
Roberto Rossellini and Mario Monicelli winning the Golden Lion in 1959 for General Della Rovere and The Great War respectively.
Marcello Mastroianni receiving the prize in 1990
Steven Spielberg receiving the prize from Gillo Pontecorvo in 1993
Martin Scorsese receiving the prize from Monica Vitti , 1995
Omar Sharif receiving the prize in 2003