Overview

• Kaouther Ben Hania’s The Voice of Hind Rajab took the Silver Lion after an extraordinary 22–23 minute ovation and intense public attention.
• Benny Safdie won Best Director for The Smashing Machine, with Toni Servillo named Best Actor for La Grazia and Xin Zhilei winning Best Actress for The Sun Rises on Us All.
• Italy’s Gianfranco Rosi received the Special Jury Prize for the black‑and‑white documentary Below the Clouds.
• The main competition jury was chaired by Alexander Payne, joined by Fernanda Torres, Mohammad Rasoulof, Stéphane Brizé, Maura Delpero, Zhao Tao and Cristian Mungiu.
• Politics dominated the festival as thousands protested at the Lido and an open letter on Gaza drew roughly 2,000 industry signatures, while Netflix’s high‑profile competition entries left without awards.