The International Jury composed of Gong Li (President), Jacques Audiard, Evgenij Evtusenko, Ulrich Felsberg, László Kovács, Francesca Neri and Yesim Ustaoglu has attributed the prizes to the winners of this 59th edition after having viewed the 21 films in competition. And the Golden Lion goes to Scottish director Peter Mullan's The Magdalene Sisters that was a critic favorite from the day it screened early on in the Festival. more

Ten years after his blacklisting, Tian Zhuangzhuang returns to the art of motion picture with the remake of a 1948 classic by Fei Mu, Springtime in a Small Town. The film was successful enough to win the Upstream competition of the Venice Film Festival. Filmfestivals.com seized the opportunity to ask Zhuangzhuang whether he was still the same man and artist as before. more

Ireland, 1964. Bernadette, Patricia, Margaret and Crispina are shut up in a Magdalene institute on the outskirts of Dublin. Bernadette has been locked up because of her dangerous physical beauty, Patricia because she is a single mother and Margaret because she has been raped. Mullan's film is strong, and his philosophy is powerful: teenage girls are an exploited 'ethnic group' subject to physical and psychological abuse because of their vulnerability and inability to set boundaries. Venice Festival Golden Lion winner. more