Overview

• The 92-year-old Vertigo star accepted the Venice Film Festival’s Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement to a prolonged standing ovation, with Guillermo del Toro delivering an onstage tribute.
• Venice premiered Alexandre O. Philippe’s Kim Novak’s Vertigo, a 76-minute portrait built from the actor’s voice notes, home interviews, and archival material.
• In the film, Novak says she feels "close to the end" and describes the project as a way to free long-suppressed memories and "wrap up" her life.
• Novak recounts battles with the studio system under Columbia’s Harry Cohn, including pressure over her image and a forced name change, and she reflects on leaving Hollywood to paint and raise horses in Oregon.
• The documentary includes Novak’s personal accounts of traumatic childhood experiences, which she shares on camera, and early reviews highlight the film’s unfiltered intimacy and reframing of her legacy.