The 63 Annual Venice Film Festival came to a close today.
Chinese movie Still Life wins Golden Lion at Venice Film Festival
Canadian Press Published: Saturday, September 09, 2006 [SOURCE]
VENICE, Italy (AP) – The Chinese movie Still Life, set against the backdrop of China’s gigantic Three Gorges Dam project, won this year’s Golden Lion, the top award at the Venice Film Festival on Saturday. 
Helen Mirren and Ben Affleck won this year’s top acting awards at the Venice Film Festival.
Mirren won for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in Stephen Frear’s The Queen. Affleck won for his role in Allen Coulter’s Hollywoodland, which dramatizes an investigation into the death of George Reeves, star of the 1950s TV show Adventures of Superman.
The top film award to Chinese director Jia Zhang-ke was a surprise entry late in the festival, and trumped such candidates as Emilio Estevez’ Bobby, about the assassination of Robert Kennedy, and The Queen, about the week that followed Princess Diana’s death.
Still Lif” was shot in the old village of Fengjie, which has been destroyed by the building of the Three Gorges Dam, and tells of people who go back there.
More than 1.13 million Chinese have been relocated to make way for the dam, many of them complaining of bleak prospects in their new homes above the waterline or in other parts of China.
“We were told there would be a surprise film at the end of this festival, and we didn’t have a lot of discussion,” French actress Catherine Deneuve, who headed the jury that awarded the top prize, told reporters after the ceremony.
“The beauty of the cinematography and the quality of the story, without getting political, the characters, we were very touched and we were very moved,” Deneuve added. “We know it’s a very special film.”
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Official Awards of the 63rd Venice Film Festival
GOLDEN LION for Best Film:
Sanxia Haoren (Still Life) by Jia Zhang-Ke
SILVER LION for Best Director:
Alain Resnais for the film Private Fears in Public Places
SILVER LION REVELATION:
Emanuele Crialese for the film Nuovomondo – Golden Door
SPECIAL JURY PRIZE:
Daratt by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun
COPPA VOLPI
for Best Male Actor:
Ben Affleck in the film Hollywoodland by Allen Coulter
COPPA VOLPI
for Best Female Actor:
Helen Mirren in the film The Queen by Stephen Frears
MARCELLO MASTROIANNI AWARD
for Best Young Actor:
Isild Le Besco in the film L’intouchable by Benoît Jacquot
OSELLA
for Best Technical Contribution:
Emmanuel Lubezki
Director of Photography for the film Children of Men by Alfonso Cuarón
OSELLA
for Best Screenplay:
Peter Morgan
for the film The Queen by Stephen Frears
SPECIAL LION:
Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet for innovation in the language of cinema
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Hollywoodland has just been bumped up on my list of movies to see. The Queen and Still Life both sound intriguing.
@Cinefille 
Hey there Cinefille … I just love Helen Mirren, and I can’t wait to see her in this one from Mr. Frears .. I just saw Hollywoodland, and though the movie does have some serious faults, Ben Affleck is surprisingly great as Mr. Reeves .. I think an Oscar nomination will be in his near future
Helen’s edging closer and closer to that Oscar… Affleck’s win was just pure odd.
Helen Mirren is a fantastic actress. Affleck was good in Hollywoodland, but not good enough for an award.