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Guillermo Del Toro's "The Shape of Water" wins Venice's Golden Bear!

T

torre_avenue

Banned
Per Deadline:
Guillermo del Toro's lyrical period fairy tale, The Shape Of Water, was crowned with the top prize Golden Lion here tonight at the Venice Film Festival. The Mexican filmmaker's fantasy splashed down on the Lido last week early in the proceedings, and left folks swooning in its wake. It was among the best-reviewed pictures here, and had one of the most emotional gala screenings in memory. When the Lion was announced tonight, the press room positively erupted with joy.

The prize, he noted, is the first time a Mexican helmer has won the Golden Lion. From the stage, the filmmaker said, ”I'm 52 years old, I weigh 300 pounds, and I've done 10 movies. There is a moment in every storyteller's life, no matter what age you are, you risk it all and go and do something different."

Added the teary del Toro, ”To every Latin American filmmaker dreaming of doing something in the fantastic genre, it can be done."

He said he intends to call the statue the ”Sergio Leone" and remarked how full the Sala Grande was of the things he believes in, ”Life, love and cinema." That echoed something he'd said earlier in the week of the film, which mixes fantasy, romance, thriller, and old-style Hollywood: it's a movie that's ”in love with love and in love with cinema." Shape took 10 years of struggle for del Toro to get made, and he's said it was the hardest shoot he's ever had.
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Some more of Del Toro's comments:
Backstage, del Toro spoke to the press and was asked about the significance of the win for genre movies. ”It means a lot," he said pointing to parables that are ”artistic, beautiful, politically charged movies." It's about time, he said, that ”we understand every vernacular in cinema done with intelligence and passion is valid."

Of awards in general, del Toro said, ”You do what you do as an act of love and creation, and if something happens to the movie in prize terms, it's great. But the important thing when that happens is for it to happen with work that is completely personal to you, that you didn't have to modify. If you receive awards from purity and truth, that's great. If you have boos, if you have your purity, it soothes you."

The award was especially emotional for del Toro. ”I've been doing this for 25 years. It's easy to say 25 years, but to live them, you go up, you go down. You fly, you crash. A career is an accident in slow motion." Then, pointing to ‘Sergio Leone,' he said, ”This is an airbag being deployed."
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Honestly, I'm happy for Del Toro. For a man who puts so much passion into his work and does his utmost to not only bring to life the worlds of his films but also do it under budget, he's had a string of flops & projects falling through. Hopefully, with this win, we can see some more of his fantastic ideas & adaptations coming back to life.

Here are the other winners:
Golden Lion
The Shape Of Water, dir: Guillermo del Toro

Grand Jury Prize
Foxtrot, Samuel Maoz

Silver Lion, Best Director
Xavier Legrand, Jusqu'à La Garde

Volpi Cup, Best Actress
Charlotte Rampling, Hannah

Volpi Cup, Best Actor
Kamel El Basha, The Insult

Best Screenplay
Martin McDonagh, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Special Jury Prize
Sweet Country, dir: Warwick Thornton

Marcello Mastroianni Award for for Best New Young Actor or Actress
Charlie Plummer, Lean On Pete

VENICE HORIZONS
Best Film
Nico, 1988, dir: Susanna Nicchiarelli

Best Director
Vahid Jalilvand, No Date, No Signature

Special Jury Prize
Caniba, dirs: Lucien Castaing-Taylor, Verena Paravel

Best Actress
Lyna Khoudri, Les Bienheureux

Best Actor
Navid Mohammadzadeh, No Date, No Signature

Best Screenplay
Los Versos Del Olvido, dir: Alireza Khatami

Best Short Film
Gros Chagrin, dir: Céline Devaux

Lion of the Future – ”Luigi De Laurentiis" Venice Award for a Debut Film
Jusqu'à La Garde, dir: Xavier Legrand

VENICE CLASSICS
Best Restoration
Idi I Smotri, dir: Elem Klimov

Best Documentary on Cinema
The Prince And The Dybbuk, dirs: Elwira Niewiera, Piotr Rosolowski

VENICE VIRTUAL REALITY
Best VR
Arden's Wake (Expanded), dir: Eugene YK Chung

Best VR Experience
La Camera Insabbiata, dirs: Laurie Anderson, Hsin-Chien Huang

Best VR Story
Bloodless, dir: Gina Kim
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EDIT: Lion. I meant, lion. Well, I'm sure he'll win the Golden Bear too.
 
Stiler

Stiler

Member
Really looking forward to this movie.

It's a shame that they didn't let him finish out Hellboy with a third one (even though both he and Ron Perlman wanted to do it).

Guess he'll be laughing all the way to the bank with this movie.
 
F

Fancyarcher

Member
Stiler said:
Really looking forward to this movie.

It's a shame that they didn't let him finish out Hellboy with a third one (even though both he and Ron Perlman wanted to do it).

Guess he'll be laughing all the way to the bank with this movie.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure it'll make huge money though. It should be great however.
 
M

mariachi507

Member
I'm a GDT fan who recognizes his inconsistency in making quality projects. His heart is always in the right place though and I could listen to the man talk about cinema all day. I'm very happy for him and I can't wait for the movie.
 
N

NightShift

Member
Oh shit! We got another GDT hit on our hands!

I know next to nothing about this movie. All I saw was the poster and that was more than enough for me. The wait for January is going to be exhausting.
 
T

Tender Joe

Member
mariachi507 said:
I'm a GDT fan who recognizes his inconsistency in making quality projects. His heart is always in the right place though and I could listen to the man talk about cinema all day. I'm very happy for him and I can't wait for the movie.
Click to expand...

I feel the same way. He has the same geeky, obsessive love for the medium that QT does, minus the awkward cringiness.

I'll watch every movie he ever puts out no matter what.

Very excited to see this.
 
N

nin1000

Banned
Really happy about this.
You can always see how much passion he has put into his work. I can't wait to see this.
It's a shame we in Germany have to wait until February to watch this :(

Is there a Jesus picture of him out there ?
I know there is one for Noland and Villeneuve.
Would love to see him though lol
 
UberTag

UberTag

Member
Looking forward to catching both this and Best Screenplay winner, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, next Sunday.
 
G

Grenouille

Member
Can't wait. Sadly I'm gonna be waiting for a while according to imdb.

Crimson Peak had the perfect visuals and setting; bringing a Gothic horror novel to life was such an interesting concept...It was just tragic how the story itself fell flat.
 
N

nin1000

Banned
OP, you should probably try to edit the title,
Since others have already pointed put that's it's actually the golden lion.
Golden Bear is for the Berlinale
 
Alx

Alx

Member
That's great for him. Funnily enough it's getting me more worried than anything though, I was interested in the movie but all the Venice lions I've watched were hyper-intellectual stuff that bored me to death, and I used to consider the label as more repulsive than attractive. :p
Will definitely watch this one, though.
 
N

nin1000

Banned
Alx said:
That's great for him. Funnily enough it's getting me more worried than anything though, I was interested in the movie but all the Venice lions I've watched were hyper-intellectual stuff that bored me to death, and I used to consider the label as more repulsive than attractive. :p
Will definitely watch this one, though.
Click to expand...

What about brokeback mountain ?
 
P

Philippo

Member
...Bear? lol

flaglarge.jpg
Click to expand...
 
T

torre_avenue

Banned
nin1000 said:
OP, you should probably try to edit the title,
Since others have already pointed put that's it's actually the golden lion.
Golden Bear is for the Berlinale
Click to expand...
Oh fuck.

Well, bears, lions, what's the difference really.

They're both symbols of courage, hairy, and will kill you in a heartbeat.
 
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