Twenty-minute ovation
The 81st edition of the film festival closed on Saturday, with Pedro Almodovar’s English-language debut The Room Next Door winning the festival’s most prestigious prize, the Golden Lion, which is awarded for best film.
The movie, which stars Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton, received a nearly 20-minute standing ovation when it premiered at the festival.
Venice’s last day also saw the world premiere of Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 2, and Vincent Lindon won best actor for his performance as a single father whose son is radicalised by the far-Right in French drama The Quiet Son.
The Luigi De Laurentiis award for a debut film was won by Sarah Friedland’s Familiar Touch, about an octogenarian’s transition to life in assisted living as she grapples with her age, memory and relationship to her caregivers.
The festival has seen the world premiere of Todd Phillips’ Joker: Folie à  Deux, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga, and Luca Guadagnino’s William S Burroughs adaptation Queer, which stars Daniel Craig as a junkie expat obsessed with a young student.