Quote from Alex bobby on September 8, 2025, 3:17 AM

Venice Film Festival 2025: Jim Jarmusch’s Father Mother Sister Brother Wins the Golden Lion

The Venice Film Festival 2025 concluded with a bold, unexpected choice for its top honour. Jim Jarmusch’s Father Mother Sister Brother, an elevated cringe comedy about the fragile, often absurd dynamics between adult children and their parents, took home the coveted Golden Lion. Starring Adam Driver, Vicky Krieps, and Cate Blanchett, the film emerged as one of the most talked-about titles of the festival, even though Jarmusch himself admitted it was a “quiet” work compared to some of the season’s flashier contenders.

This year’s festival lineup was a powerful reminder of Venice’s unique position as a platform where auteur-driven cinema intersects with urgent political storytelling, intimate human dramas, and boundary-pushing experiments. Let’s take a closer look at the major highlights and winners that shaped the 2025 edition.

A Quiet Triumph: Father Mother Sister Brother

At 72, Jim Jarmusch has long been regarded as an icon of American independent cinema, crafting films that blend laconic humour, existential searching, and poetic stillness. Yet, Father Mother Sister Brother represents something new for him—a triptych exploring the emotional push-and-pull of family relationships in middle age.

Divided into three distinct stories that weave together thematically rather than narratively, the film places its A-list cast into painfully recognisable situations: the child who feels trapped in the shadow of domineering parents, the awkwardness of adult siblings negotiating unresolved rivalries, and the bittersweet tenderness of letting go as parents age. Jarmusch’s dry humor and minimalist aesthetic turn these familiar dramas into an almost theatrical study of human discomfort.

Though Jarmusch confessed he was surprised by the jury’s decision—“This is a quiet film,” he said in his acceptance speech, “and I thank the festival for hearing its silences”—the choice reflects Venice’s long tradition of honoring films that resist conventional categories.

Silver Lion: The Voice of Hind Rajab

If Jarmusch’s win was unexpected, the festival’s runner-up prize went to a film whose raw urgency was impossible to ignore. Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania’s The Voice of Hind Rajab is a docudrama centered on a real-life tragedy in Gaza City. The film reconstructs the harrowing story of six-year-old Hind Rajab, who was trapped in a bullet-ridden car in January 2024 and made a desperate phone call to the Palestine Red Crescent Society.

Ben Hania’s bold choice to incorporate the actual audio from Hind’s call left audiences visibly shaken. The film was greeted with a 21-minute standing ovation at its premiere, marking one of the most emotional moments of the festival. Its Silver Lion win confirms Venice’s willingness to spotlight politically charged works that blend documentary realism with narrative craft.

Best Actress and Best Actor: Global Stars Shine

The acting awards underscored Venice’s reputation as an international showcase. Chinese star Xin Zhilei won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress for her searing performance in Cai Shangjun’s The Sun Rises on Us All. Set in Guangzhou’s sweatshop economy, the film follows a love triangle marked by desire, betrayal, and class struggle. Xin’s nuanced portrayal of a woman torn between survival and longing was hailed as the film’s emotional anchor.

Meanwhile, Italian veteran Toni Servillo took home the Volpi Cup for Best Actor for his role in Paolo Sorrentino’s La Grazia. Playing a weary president confronting the twilight of his political and personal life, Servillo brought both gravitas and fragility to the part. His performance deepened the collaboration between actor and director, following their previous success with The Great Beauty.

Benny Safdie: Best Director

Known primarily as one half of the Safdie Brothers, Benny Safdie struck out solo with The Smashing Machine, a biopic of MMA fighter Mark Kerr. The film’s visceral approach—bruising fight sequences balanced against the haunting toll of addiction and fame—earned Safdie the Best Director award. Critics praised his ability to push the sports biopic genre into raw, almost documentary-like territory, while still delivering a character study brimming with compassion.

Best Screenplay: At Work

French filmmakers Valérie Donzelli and Gilles Marchand were honoured for their script for At Work, a drama tackling the precarity of the gig economy. The film follows a once-successful photographer who abandons her career to pursue writing, only to spiral into financial instability. Jury members highlighted the screenplay’s sharp observations on creative ambition, systemic exploitation, and the quiet dignity of resilience.

Special Jury Prize: Below the Clouds

Italian documentarian Gianfranco Rosi received the Special Jury Prize for Below the Clouds, a lyrical exploration of life in Naples. Known for films such as Fire at Sea and Sacro GRA, Rosi once again demonstrated his ability to transform documentary into visual poetry. By focusing on the rhythms of ordinary Neapolitan life, he crafted a portrait both intimate and universal, reminding audiences of cinema’s capacity to capture beauty in the everyday.

A Festival of Contrasts

The 2025 edition of Venice Film Festival will likely be remembered for its contrasts: a quiet Jarmusch comedy sharing the spotlight with a devastating Gaza docudrama, international stars mingling with hard-hitting stories of working-class struggle, and both experimental auteurs and established masters being recognised by the Alexander Payne-led jury.

Venice has long positioned itself as a festival willing to take risks. Where Cannes might favour grandeur and Toronto chases Oscar momentum, Venice frequently rewards films that balance artistry with urgency. This year’s winners reflected a commitment to storytelling that not only entertains but also unsettles, questions, and lingers.

Looking Forward

With awards season on the horizon, the Venice Film Festival 2025 has already set the tone. Jarmusch’s Father Mother Sister Brother could emerge as a dark horse in international accolades, while The Voice of Hind Rajab seems destined to spark powerful conversations worldwide. Performances by Xin Zhilei and Toni Servillo may also gain traction as award contenders. Beyond trophies, however, the festival’s selections signal a renewed appetite for films that blend artistry with social conscience. As these stories reach broader audiences, we can look forward to a season of cinema that is as thought-provoking as it is unforgettable.

Final Thoughts

Jim Jarmusch’s Father Mother Sister Brother winning the Golden Lion reaffirms Venice’s role as a champion of films that defy easy categorisation. While other winners spotlighted urgent political realities, global performance powerhouses, and explorations of economic and social fragility, the Golden Lion’s quiet victory suggests that sometimes, the most radical act in cinema is to listen—to awkward silences, to fractured families, to the uncomfortable truths we’d rather avoid.

The Venice Film Festival 2025 has set the stage for an awards season where introspection and urgency may carry as much weight as spectacle.

Conclusion

The Venice Film Festival 2025 was a celebration of cinema’s diversity, from Jim Jarmusch’s understated yet profound Father Mother Sister Brother to Kaouther Ben Hania’s emotionally charged The Voice of Hind Rajab. The awards highlighted both global artistry and political urgency, with performances, stories, and directorial visions that will resonate far beyond the Lido. By crowning a quiet family drama alongside films tackling war, poverty, and resilience, Venice once again affirmed its reputation as the most daring of the major festivals—one that dares to honour cinema not just for its spectacle, but for its power to reflect the complexities of our world.

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Jim Jarmusch’s Father Mother Sister Brother wins the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival 2025, with major awards also going to Kaouther Ben Hania, Benny Safdie, Xin Zhilei, and Toni Servillo in a powerful year for global cinema.