Venice Award Winners: ‘Sacro Gra’ Is First Documentary Ever To Take Golden Lion

UPDATE: Coming into Venice, jury president Bernardo Bertolucci said he was looking “to be surprised.” Just after the awards ceremony tonight, he confirmed that Sacro Gra, the winner of the Golden Lion, “is a surprising film.” Gianfranco Rossi’s documentary about life on the ring-road highway that circles Rome gave Venice its first Italian winner since 1998’s The Way We Laughed (that film’s director, Gianni Amelio, was also coincidentally in competition this year with L’Intrepido). It’s also the first time a documentary has ever won at the fest; this was the first year non-fiction films were included. Bertolucci commented on the other documentary in competition, Errol Morris’ portrait of Donald Rumsfeld, The Unknown Known, and said that some on the jury “thought about giving (Rumsfeld) the Best Actor prize.” (more…)