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Special Jury Award

Leone d'argentoThe "Special Jury Award – Silver Lion" is, after the "Golden Lion", the second most important award given out at the Venice Film Festival.

This award acknowledges a film that impressed the members of the jury even though it did not turn out to be the festival winner. Usually certain aspects of the work did not quite fit all the attributes of the Golden Lion winner but they still made the film noteworthy or this award may be an indirect acknowledgement to the author of the work.

Although it is an award of high esteem, sometimes it is viewed only as a "consolation prize", a kind of compensation. In spite of some cases of the kind, this award holds notable prestige.

List of Awards

  • For editions of the festival before 1951, this prize was not awarded.
  • 1951 – "A Streetcar Named Desire" by Elia Kazan (USA)
  • From 1952 to 1957, this prize was not awarded.
  • 1958 –

    • "Les amants" (The Lovers) by Louis Malle (France)
    • "La sfida" (The Challenge) by Francesco Rosi (Italy)
  • 1959 – "Ansiktet" (The Magician) by Ingmar Bergman (Sweden)
  • 1960 – "Rocco e i suoi fratelli" (Rocco and His Brothers) by Luchino Visconti (Italy)
  • 1961 – "Myr Vchodjashchcemu" (Peace to Him Who Enters) by Aleksandr Alov and Vladimir Naumov (USSR)
  • 1962 – "Vivre sa vie" (My Life to Live) by Jean-Luc Godard (France)
  • 1963 –

    • "Le feu follet" (The Fire Within) by Louis Malle (France)
    • "Vstuplijenije" (Introduction) by Igor Talankin (USSR)
  • 1964 –

    • "Il Vangelo secondo Matteo" (The Gospel According to St. Matthew) by Pier Paolo Pasolini (Italy)
    • "Gamlet" (Hamlet) di Grigorij Kozincev (USSR)
  • 1965 –

    • "Simón del desierto" (Simon of the Desert) by Luis Buñuel (Mexico)
    • "Mne dvadtsat let" (I am Twenty) by Marlen Khutsiev (USSR)
    • "Modiga Mindre Män" by Leif Krantz (Sweden)
  • 1966 –

    • "Chappaqua" by Conrad Rooks (USA)
    • "Abschied von gestern" (Yesterday Girl) by Alexander Kluge (Federal Republic of Germany)
  • 1967 –

    • "La Cina è vicina" (China Is Near) by Marco Bellocchio (Italy)
    • "La Chinoise" by Jean-Luc Godard (France)
  • 1968 –

    • "Nostra Signora dei Turchi" (Our Lady of the Turks) by Carmelo Bene (Italy)
    • "Le Socrate" (Socrates) by Robert Lapojade (France)
  • In 1973, 1977 and 1978, the festival was not held.
  • From 1969 to 1979, the festival does not give out awards.
  • In 1980, this prize was not awarded.
  • 1981 –

    • "Sogni d’oro" (Sweet Dreams) by Nanni Moretti (Italy)
    • "Eles Não Usam Black-Tie" (They Don’t Wear Black Tie) by Leon Hirszman (Brazil)
  • 1982 – "Imperativ" (Imperative) by Krzysztov Zanussi (Federal Republic of Germany)
  • 1983 – "Biguefarre" by Georges Rouquier (France)
  • 1984 – "Le favoris de la lune" (Favorites of the Moon) by Otar Ioseliani (France)
  • 1985 – "Tangos, l’exil de Gardel" (Tangos, the Exile of Gardel) by Fernando E. Solanas (Argentina)
  • 1986 –

    • "Cuzaja, belaja i rjaboj" (Wild Pigeon) by Sergei Solov’ëv (USSR)
    • "Storia d’amore" by Francesco Maselli (Italy)
  • 1987 – "Hip, Hip, Hurra!" by Kjell Grede(Sweden/Denmark/Norway)
  • 1988 – "Camp de Thiaroye" (The Camp at Thiaroye) by Sembène Ousmane and Thierno Faty Sow (Senegal)
  • 1989 – "Et la lumière fut" (And Then There Was Light) by Otar Ioseliani (Germany/France)
  • 1990 – "An Angel at My Table" by Jane Campion (New Zealand)
  • 1991 – "A Divina Comédia" (The Divine Comedy) by Manoel de Oliveira (Portugal/France)
  • 1992 – "Morte di un matematico napoletano" (Death of a Neapolitan Mathematician) by Mario Martone (Italy)
  • 1993 – "Bad Boy Bubby" by Rolf De Heer (Australia)
  • 1994 – "Natural Born Killers" by Oliver Stone (USA)
  • 1995 –

    • "A Comédia de Deus" (God’s Comedy) by Joäo César Monteiro (Portugal)
    • "L’uomo delle stelle" (The Star Maker) by Giuseppe Tornatore (Italy)
  • 1996 – "Brigands, chapitre VII" (Brigands-Chapter VII) by Otar Iosseliani (France/Russia/Italy/Switzerland)
  • 1997 – "Ovosodo" (Hardboiled Egg) by Paolo Virzì (Italy)
  • 1998 – "Terminus Paradis" (Next Stop Paradise) by Lucian Pintilie (France/Romania)
  • 1999 – "Le vent nous emportera" (The Wind Will Carry Us) by Abbas Kiarostami (France/Iran)
  • 2000 – "Before Night Falls" by Julian Schnabel (USA)
  • 2001 – "Hundstage" (Dog Days) by Ulrich Seidl (Austria)
  • 2002 – "Dom Durakov – La maison des fous" (House of Fools) by Andrej Koncalovskij (Russia/France)
  • 2003 – "Le cerf-volant" (The Kite) by Randa Chahal Sabbag (Lebanon)
  • 2004 – "Mar adentro" (The Sea Within) by Alejandro Amenábar (Spain)
  • 2005 – "Mary" by Abel Ferrara (USA)
  • 2006 – Daratt by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun
  • 2007 – I’m Not There by Todd Haynes and Cous cous by Abdellatif Kechiche
  • 2008 – Teza by Haile Gerima
  • 2009 – Soul Kitchen by Fatih Akin
  • 2010 – Essential Killing by Jerzy Skolimowski
  • 2011 Terraferma by Emanuele Crialese
  • 2012 Paradies by Glaube by Ulrich Seidl