John Malkovich Wins Venice Best Actor for 'Wild Horse Nine' at 83rd Festival

Q: With top honors still pending at the closing ceremony, which highly debated masterpiece ultimately captured the coveted Golden Lion?

The Golden Lion ultimately went to **“NAZA,”** the fiercely debated documentary by **Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor**. The film had emerged as one of the festival’s most talked-about contenders after its Venice premiere drew a record **25-minute standing ovation**. It centers on alleged Israeli military targeting practices in Gaza and features testimony from intelligence and military insiders about AI-assisted surveillance, strikes and civilian casualties. In the final stretch of the 83rd Venice Film Festival, “NAZA” was widely seen as a serious front-runner alongside Lee Chang-dong’s acclaimed **“Possible Love.”** But the combination of its political urgency, extraordinary audience response and strong awards momentum carried it to the festival’s top prize. Its win makes “NAZA” one of the rare documentaries to capture Venice’s highest honor, reinforcing the festival’s reputation for rewarding formally ambitious and politically resonant nonfiction cinema.

3 articles · Updated · Variety · Sep 12

John Malkovich, 72, won the Volpi Cup for best actor at Venice for playing an eccentric CIA agent in Martin McDonagh’s “Wild Horse Nine.”
Montreal filming kept Malkovich from the ceremony, so he accepted by video and said he was humbled to join winners honored across the festival’s 83 editions.
The acting prize adds momentum to “Wild Horse Nine,” which was already drawing Oscar buzz as one of this year’s Golden Lion contenders.
Venice’s wider awards rollout also gave best actress to Mathilde Arcel, while the ceremony paused to honor producer Jeremy Thomas, who died Friday at 77.