Penelope Cruz wins best actress award at Venice Film Festival

By Jeyhun Aliyev

ANKARA (AA) - Renowned Spanish actress and model Penelope Cruz won best actress Saturday on the closing night of the 78th Venice Film Festival on the Lido Peninsula.

Spain's cinema queen grabbed the award for her starring role in Parallel Mothers, a film about two mothers who give birth on the same day.

The movie was written and directed by famed Spanish director Pedro Almodovar.

Philippines star John Arcilla won best actor at the world's oldest film festival, although his win was not expected.

He won for this performance in the crime thriller, On the Job: The Missing 8.

Audrey Diwan's abortion drama, Happening, about a 1960s French college student, won the Golden Lion award.

The runner-up for the Silver Lion prize went to Italian director Paolo Sorrentino’s The Hand of God.

Fortune also favored New Zealand's shining icon Jane Campion, who won the Silver Lion, the best director trophy at the festival for The Power of the Dog.

Best screenplay was given to Maggie Gyllenhaal for her directorial debut, The Lost Daughter.

The 79th Venice Film Festival will be held Aug. 31 to Sept. 10, 2022.