Golden Lion (Leone d’Oro)
Presented by	Venice Film Festival
Location	Venice
Country	Italy
First awarded	1949

Il Leone d’Oro (English: 'The Golden Lion') is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is now regarded as one of the film industry's most distinguished prizes. In 1970, a second Golden Lion was introduced; this is an honorary award for people who have made an important contribution to cinema.

The prize was introduced in 1949 as the Golden Lion of St. Mark (the winged lion which had appeared on the flag of the Venetian Republic).^[1] Previously, the equivalent prize was the Gran Premio Internazionale di Venezia (Grand International Prize of Venice), awarded in 1947 and 1948. Before that, from 1934 until 1942, the highest awards were the Coppa Mussolini (Mussolini Cups) for Best Italian Film and Best Foreign Film.

No Golden Lions were awarded between 1969 and 1979. According to the Biennale's official website, this hiatus was a result of the 1968 Lion being awarded to the radically experimental Die Artisten in der Zirkuskuppel: Ratlos; the website says that the awards "still had a statute dating back to the fascist era and could not side-step the general political climate. Sixty-eight produced a dramatic fracture with the past."^[2]

Grand International Prize of Venice[link]

Golden Lion[link]

14 French films have been awarded the Golden Lion, more than that of any other nation. Of note is that Golden Lion awards tend to be presented to European men: 33 of the 54 winners were European men (including Soviet/Russian winners). However most of this bias is from before 1980: before this year only 3 of 21 winners were non-European. Since 1949 only a few women have ever won the Golden Lion for directing, Indian-born Mira Nair, U.S. born Sofia Coppola, German Margarethe von Trotta and Belgium's Agnès Varda, who both won more than two decades ago. Although numerous Americans have won honorary awards at the festival, Americans have only won the Golden Lion four times, with awards for John Cassavetes and Robert Altman (both times the awards were shared with other winners who tied), as well as Darren Aronofsky (the first sole American to win the award) and Sofia Coppola (the first American female to win the award).

Year	Title	Director	Country of origin
1949	Manon	Henri-Georges Clouzot	* France
1950	Justice Is Done (Justice est faite)	André Cayatte	France
1951	Rashōmon	Akira Kurosawa	* Japan
1952	Forbidden Games (Jeux interdits)	René Clément	France
1953	No award
1954	Romeo and Juliet	Renato Castellani	* Italy
1955	The Word (Ordet)	Carl Theodor Dreyer	Denmark
1956	No award[3]
1957	The Unvanquished (Aparajito)	Satyajit Ray	* India
1958	Rickshaw Man (Muhomatsu no issho)	Hiroshi Inagaki	Japan
1959	General della Rovere (Il generale della Rovere) (tie) The Great War (La grande guerra) (tie)	Roberto Rossellini Mario Monicelli	Italy  Italy
1960	The Crossing of the Rhine (Le passage du Rhin)	André Cayatte	France
1961	Last Year in Marienbad (L'année dernière à Marienbad)	Alain Resnais	France
1962	Family Diary (Cronaca familiare) (tie) Ivan's Childhood (Ivanovo detstvo) (tie)	Valerio Zurlini Andrei Tarkovsky	Italy * Soviet Union
1963	Hands Over the City (Le mani sulla città)	Francesco Rosi	Italy
1964	Red Desert (Il deserto rosso)	Michelangelo Antonioni	Italy
1965	Sandra of a Thousand Delights (Vaghe stelle dell'Orsa)	Luchino Visconti	Italy
1966	The Battle of Algiers (La battaglia di Algeri)	Gillo Pontecorvo	Italy
1967	Beauty of the Day (Belle de jour)	Luis Buñuel	France
1968	Artists under the Big Top: Perplexed (Die Artisten in der Zirkuskuppel: Ratlos)	Alexander Kluge	* West Germany
1969-79	No award
1980	Atlantic City (tie) Gloria (tie)	Louis Malle John Cassavetes	* Canada/ France * United States
1981	Marianne and Juliane (Die Bleierne Zeit)	Margarethe von Trotta	West Germany
1982	The State of Things (Der Stand der Dinge)	Wim Wenders	West Germany
1983	First Name: Carmen (Prénom Carmen)	Jean-Luc Godard	France
1984	The Year of the Quiet Sun (Rok spokojnego slonca)	Krzysztof Zanussi	* Poland
1985	Vagabond (Sans toit ni loi)	Agnès Varda	France
1986	The Green Ray (Le rayon vert)	Éric Rohmer	France
1987	Au revoir, les enfants	Louis Malle	France
1988	The Legend of the Holy Drinker (La leggenda del santo bevitore)	Ermanno Olmi	Italy
1989	A City of Sadness (Bei qing cheng shi)	Hou Hsiao-Hsien	* Taiwan
1990	Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead	Tom Stoppard	* United Kingdom/ United States
1991	Urga	Nikita Mikhalkov	* Soviet Union
1992	The Story of Qiu Ju (Qiu Ju da guan si)	Zhang Yimou	China
1993	Short Cuts (tie) Three Colours: Blue (Trois couleurs: Bleu) (tie)	Robert Altman Krzysztof Kieślowski	United States  France/ Poland
1994	Vive L'Amour (Ai qing wan sui) (tie) Before the Rain (tie)	Tsai Ming-liang Milčo Mančevski	Taiwan * Republic of Macedonia
1995	Cyclo (Xich lo)	Anh Hung Tran	France- Vietnam
1996	Michael Collins	Neil Jordan	* Ireland
1997	Fireworks (Hana-bi)	Takeshi Kitano	Japan
1998	The Way We Laughed (Così ridevano)	Gianni Amelio	Italy
1999	Not One Less (Yi ge dou bu neng shao)	Zhang Yimou	China
2000	The Circle (Dayereh)	Jafar Panahi	* Iran
2001	Monsoon Wedding	Mira Nair	India/ United States/ Italy/ France/* Germany
2002	The Magdalene Sisters	Peter Mullan	Ireland
2003	The Return (Vozvrashcheniye)	Andrey Zvyagintsev	Russia
2004	Vera Drake	Mike Leigh	United Kingdom
2005	Brokeback Mountain	Ang Lee	United States
2006	Still Life (Sanxia haoren)	Jia Zhangke	China
2007	Lust, Caution (Se, jie)	Ang Lee	United States/ China/ Taiwan
2008	The Wrestler	Darren Aronofsky	United States
2009	Lebanon	Samuel Maoz	* Israel
2010	Somewhere	Sofia Coppola	United States
2011	Faust	Alexander Sokurov	Russia

*_{denotes first win}

Golden Lion – Honorary Award[link]

Repeat winners[link]

• André Cayatte (1950; 1960)
• Louis Malle (1980; 1987)
• Zhang Yimou (1992; 1999)
• Ang Lee (2005; 2007)

See also[link]

Film portal

• Leone d’Argento (Silver Lion)
• Palme d'Or, the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival
• Golden Bear, the highest prize awarded at the Berlin Film Festival

References[link]

External links[link]

• La Biennale di Venezia official website

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There are many people in history who are commonly appended with the phrase "the Great", or who were called that or an equivalent phrase in their own language. Other languages have their own suffixes such as e Bozorg and e azam in Persian and Urdu respectively.

In Persia, the title "the Great" at first seems to be a colloquial version of the Old Persian title "Great King". This title was first used by the conqueror Cyrus II of Persia.^[1]

The Persian title was inherited by Alexander III of Macedon (336–323 BC) when he conquered the Persian Empire, and the epithet "Great" eventually became personally associated with him. The first reference (in a comedy by Plautus)^[2] assumes that everyone knew who "Alexander the Great" was; however, there is no earlier evidence that Alexander III of Macedon was called "the Great".

The early Seleucid kings, who succeeded Alexander in Persia, used "Great King" in local documents, but the title was most notably used for Antiochus the Great (223–187 BC).

Later rulers and commanders began to use the epithet "the Great" as a personal name, like the Roman general Pompey. Others received the surname retrospectively, like the Carthaginian Hanno and the Indian emperor Ashoka the Great. Once the surname gained currency, it was also used as an honorific surname for people without political careers, like the philosopher Albert the Great.

As there are no objective criteria for "greatness", the persistence of later generations in using the designation greatly varies. For example, Louis XIV of France was often referred to as "The Great" in his lifetime but is rarely called such nowadays, while Frederick II of Prussia is still called "The Great". A later Hohenzollern - Wilhelm I - was often called "The Great" in the time of his grandson Wilhelm II, but rarely later.

Rulers[link]

• Abbas I of Persia (1571–1629), Shah of Iran
• Akbar (1542–1605), ruler of the Mughal Empire of South Asia, mainly India
• Alain I of Albret (1440–1522), French aristocrat
• Alexander the Great (356-323 BC), King of Macedonia, Persia, Greece, Egypt, and all of Mesopotamia
• Alexander I of Georgia (1386–1446), King of Georgia
• Alfonso III of León (c. 848-910), King of León, Galicia and Asturias
• Alfred the Great (848/849-899), King of Wessex
• Antiochus III the Great (c. 241–187 BC), ruler of the Seleucid Empire
• Ashoka the Great (c. 304–232 BC), Indian emperor of the Maurya dynasty
• Ashot I of Iberia “the Great”(died 826/830), presiding prince of Iberia (modern Georgia),
• Askia Mohammad I (c. 1442–1538), ruler of the Songhai Empire
• Bhumibol Adulyadej (born 1927), King of Thailand
• Bolesław I Chrobry (967-1025), sometimes called "the Great", first King of Poland
• Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologne and Duke of Lotharingia (also listed in the following section)
• Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke (1736–1809), founder and ruler of the Rattanakosin Kingdom (in what is now Thailand)
• Cnut the Great (c. 985 or 995-1035), King of Denmark, England, Norway and parts of Sweden
• Casimir III the Great (1310–1370), King of Poland
• Catherine the Great (1729–1796), Empress of Russia
• Chandragupta II (reigned 375-413/415), also known as Vikramaditya, ruler of the Gupta empire in India
• Charlemagne (died 814), King of the Franks and Emperor of the Romans
• Chulalongkorn (1853–1910), King of Siam (now Thailand)
• Chlothar II (584-629), King of Neustria and King of the Franks
• Conrad, Margrave of Meissen (c. 1097-1157), Margrave of Meissen
• Constantine I (c. 272-337), Roman emperor
• Cyaxares the Great (c. 625-585 BC), third king of Media
• Cyrus the Great (c. 600 BC or 576 BC–530 BC), founder and ruler of the Persian or Achaemenid Empire
• Darius the Great (550 – 486 BC), third ruler of the Persian Empire
• Devapala (died 850), ruler of the Pala Empire in the Indian subcontinent
• Dionysius I, Greek tyrant of Syracuse^[3]
• Ferdinand I of León and Castile (c. 1015–1065), King of León and Count of Castile
• Frederick the Great (1712–1786), King of Prussia
• Genghis Khan (1162?-1227), founder and Great Khan of the Mongol Empire
• Gero (c. 900–965), ruler of Marca Geronis, a very large march in Europe
• Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden (1594–1632), King of Sweden, founder of the Swedish Empire, and noted military leader
• Gwanggaeto the Great, King of Goguryeo, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea^[4][5]
• Hanno the Great, the name of three leaders of Carthage, in the 4th, 3rd, and 2nd centuries BC
• Henry I, Duke of Burgundy (946–1002)
• Henry IV of France (1553–1610), King of France and King of Navarre
• Herod the Great (73/74 BC-4 BC), King of Judea
• Hugh the Great (898-956), Duke of the Franks and Count of Paris
• Hugh Magnus of France (1007–1025), co-King of France
• Hugh I, Count of Vermandois (1057–1101)
• Humphrey I de Bohun (died c. 1123), Anglo-Norman aristocrat
• Ivan III of Russia (1440–1505), Tsar of Russia
• John I of Portugal (1358–1433), King of Portugal and the Algarve
• John II of Aragon (1398–1479), King of Aragon and, through his wife, King of Navarre
• Justinian I (483-565), Byzantine Emperor
• Kamehameha I (c. 1758-1819), first King of Hawai'i
• Kanishka (died c. 127), ruler of the Kushan Empire in Central Asia and parts of India
• Kvirike III of Kakheti (1010–1029), King of Kakheti in eastern Georgia
• Kublai Khan (1215–1294), Mongol ruler in the 13th century and Emperor of China; founder of the Yuan Dynasty
• Llywelyn the Great (c. 1172–1240), Prince of Gwynedd and de facto ruler of most of Wales
• Louis I of Hungary (1326–1382), King of Hungary, Croatia and Poland
• Mangrai the Great (1238–1317), Lanna, northern Thailand
• Emperor Meiji (1852–1912), Emperor of Japan
• Mircea I of Wallachia (1355–1418)
• Mithridates II of Parthia (died 88 BC), ruler of the Parthian Empire (in present day Iran)
• Mithridates VI of Pontus (134 BC–63 BC), ruler of Pontus and the Bosporan Kingdom
• Mstislav I of Kiev (1076–1132), Grand Prince of Kievan Rus
• Naresuan (1555–1605), King of Ayutthaya
• Narai (1633–1688), King of Ayutthaya (in what is now modern Thailand)
• Odo the Great (died c. 735), Duke of Aquitaine
• Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor (912-973)
• K'inich Janaab' Pakal (603-683), ruler of the Mayan city-state of Palenque
• Parakramabahu I of Polonnaruwa (1123–1186), King of Sri Lanka
• Peter Krešimir IV of Croatia (died 1075), King of Croatia
• Peter the Great (1672–1725), Tsar of Russia
• Peter III of Aragon (1239–1285), King of Aragon and King of Sicily
• Pompey (106 BC-48 BC), military and political leader of the late Roman Republic, rival of Julius Caesar
• Radama I (1793–1828), first king of greater Madagascar
• Raja Raja Chola I (c. 947-1014), Indian emperor of the Cholas.^[6][7][8]
• Rajendra Chola I (reigned 1014–1044), Tamil King of India
• Ramesses II (reigned 1279 BC – 1213 BC), considered the greatest pharaoh of Ancient Egypt
• Ram Khamhaeng (around 1237 to 1247-1298), King of Sukhothai (in present day Thailand)
• Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona (1082–1131), also Count of Provence and various other counties
• Rhodri the Great (c. 820–878), King of Gwynedd (in present day Wales)
• Roman the Great (after 1160-1205), Grand Prince of Kiev
• Saladin (c. 1138-1193), Kurdish Sultan of Egypt and Syria, founder of the Ayyubid dynasty, and victor over the Crusaders
• Samudragupta (c. 335–375), ruler of the Gupta empire in the Indian subcontinent
• Sancho III of Navarre (c. 992-1035), King of Kingdom of Navarre
• Sargon of Akkad (died c. 2215 BC), ruler of the Akkadian Empire
• Sejong the Great (1397–1450), Korean king^[9]
• Shapur II (309-379), king of the Sassanid Empire, Persia
• Simeon I of Bulgaria (864/865-927), ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire
• Stephen III of Moldavia (1433–1504), Prince of Moldavia (Romania)
• Stephen Uroš IV Dušan of Serbia (c. 1308-1355), King of Serbia and Emperor of the Serbs and Greeks
• Taksin (1734–1782), King of the Thonburi Kingdom (Thailand)
• Tamar (1160-1123), Queen of the Georgian Empire
• Timur (1336–1405), better known as Tamerlane, founder of the Timurid Dynasty
• Theobald II, Count of Champagne (1090–1151), Count of Blois and of Chartres as Theobald IV, Count of Champagne and of Brie
• Theodoric the Great (454-526), King of the Ostrogoths, regent of the Visigoths and a viceroy of the Byzantine Empire
• Theodosius I (347-395), Roman emperor
• Tigranes the Great (140-55 BC), Emperor of Armenia
• Tiridates III of Armenia (285-339), King of Armenia
• Umar (c. 586 to 590–644), second caliph of the Muslim Empire
• Valdemar I of Denmark (1131–1182), King of Denmark
• Valentinian I (364-375), Roman Emperor
• Vladimir I of Kiev (c. 958-1015), ruler of Kievan Rus
• Vytautas (c. 1350-1430), archduke of the Lithuanian Grand Duchy
• William I, Count of Burgundy (1020–1087), Count of Burgandy and Mâcon
• William V, Duke of Aquitaine (969-1030), also Count of Poitou
• Xerxes I (519-465 BC), King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire (Persia)
• Yu the Great (c. 2200-2100 BC), legendary ruler in ancient China

Religious figures[link]

• Abraham the Great of Kashkar (ca. 492-586), monk and saint of the Assyrian Church of the East
• Abraham Kidunaia (died c. 366, hermit, priest, and Christian saint of Mesopotamia
• Albertus Magnus (1193/1206–1280), medieval German philosopher and theologian
• Anthony the Great (c. 251–356), early Christian saint of Egypt
• Babai the Great (c. 551–628), Assyrian church leader
• Basil of Caesarea (330-379), Greek bishop and theologian
• Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologne and Duke of Lotharingia (also listed in the previous section)
• Euthymius the Great (377-473), abbot and Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox saint
• Gertrude the Great (1256-c. 1302), German Benedictine, mystic, theologian and Roman Catholic saint
• Pope Gregory I (c. 540-604)
• Hiyya the Great, 3rd-century rabbi, Palestine
• Pope John Paul II (1920–2005)
• Pope Leo I (c. 391 or 400-461)
• Macarius of Egypt (c. 300-391), Egyptian hermit
• Pope Nicholas I (c. 800-867)
• Photius I of Constantinople (c. 810–c. 893), Eastern Orthodox saint and Patriarch of Constantinople
• William of Maleval (died 1157), founder of the Catholic congregation of Williamites

Other[link]

• Beli Mawr, a figure in medieval Welsh literature and genealogies
• Emmy the Great, folk singer
• Matteo Rosso the Great, Roman politician and father of Pope Nicholas III
• Prokop the Great, Hussite general in Bohemia

See also[link]

• Epithet
• List of monarchs by nickname
• List of nicknames of European Royalty and Nobility: G-I
• James, son of Zebedee, also known as James the Greater, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus
• Ajax (mythology), called Ajax the Greater
• Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, whose common honorific "Mahatma" means "Great Soul"

Notes[link]

Mary Elle Fanning (born April 9, 1998), credited as Elle Fanning, is an American actress and model. She is the younger sister of actress Dakota Fanning and mainly known for her starring roles in Phoebe in Wonderland, Somewhere, and We Bought a Zoo. In 2011, Fanning starred in her breakout role as Alice Dainard in J.J. Abrams' sci-fi-drama blockbuster, Super 8. For this role she received overwhelming critical acclaim and was often cited as one of the film's best aspects. She received nominations for a Saturn Award, a Young Artist Award, a Broadcast Film Critics Association Award, a Teen Choice Award, a Scream Award, an MTV Movie Award, and more including a special Spotlight Award at the Hollywood Film Festival.

Personal life[link]

Fanning was born in Conyers, Georgia, the daughter of Heather Joy (née Arrington), who played tennis professionally, and Steven J. Fanning, who played minor league baseball for the St. Louis Cardinals and now works as an electronics salesman in Los Angeles.^[1] Her maternal grandfather is American football player Rick Arrington, and her aunt is ESPN reporter Jill Arrington.^[2] Fanning is the younger sister of Dakota Fanning, who is also an actress.^[3] Fanning has German, Irish, English, and French ancestry (her paternal grandmother was born in Ludwigshafen, Germany).^[4][1] Fanning and her family are members of the Southern Baptist Convention.^[5] She has been quoted as saying "We're just normal sisters. We both go to school and we just play together."^[6] Fanning currently attends Campbell Hall School in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, that was also attended by child actresses Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen.^[7]

Career[link]

Fanning started acting at the age of 2 years and 8 months. She began her acting career by playing the younger version of her older sister Dakota's characters in both the mini-series Taken and the movie I Am Sam. In 2002, at the age of four, Fanning, in the comedy Daddy Day Care, won her first role independent of her sister. Anecdotal evidence of her emerging skill was seen in the decision to cast her in the role of Ruth in The Door in the Floor (2002) opposite Jeff Bridges and Kim Basinger. The film's producers had originally planned to hire identical twins for the intense shooting schedule, but were so impressed with Fanning that they used only her.^[8]

Late in 2003, Fanning appeared in Because of Winn-Dixie in the small role of Sweetie Pie Thomas. In 2004, she did voicework in the English dubbed version of Miyazaki's animated film My Neighbor Totoro, in the role of Mei. Later that same year, she filmed I Want Someone To Eat Cheese With. In early 2005, Fanning filmed scenes in Charlotte's Web as the "future granddaughter" of Fern Arable played by Dakota Fanning. However, the scenes didn't make the final cut. In mid 2005, she played Debbie, the daughter of Richard and Susan Jones (played by Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett) in the Academy Award-winning film Babel. In early 2006, Fanning filmed scenes in both The Nines and Déjà Vu. In mid 2006, she filmed The Lost Room a sci-fi TV mini-series. Also in 2006, she appeared on the episode "Need to Know" of House: MD, playing the patient's daughter.

By the end of 2006, Fanning began to book lead roles. The first of these was the one of Emma Learner in Reservation Road—the grieving daughter of Grace and Ethan Learner. The film deals with the aftermath of a tragic car accident in which Emma's brother is killed. Late in 2008, Fanning had a small part in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button as a younger version of Cate Blanchett's character. Mid-year 2007, Fanning filmed the title role Phoebe of Phoebe in Wonderland—the fantastical tale of a little girl who won't—or can't—follow the rules. Phoebe in Wonderland also starred Felicity Huffman and was released in March 2009.

From July through October 2007, Fanning appeared in The Nutcracker in 3D, playing Mary. Set in 1920s Vienna, this is a tale of a little girl whose godfather gives her a special doll on Christmas Eve. The movie was filmed in Budapest, Hungary and was released late 2010.

In March 2008, Fanning and her sister Dakota were scheduled to star in My Sister's Keeper, but the opportunity fell through when Dakota learned she would have to shave her head. The sisters were immediately replaced by Abigail Breslin and Sofia Vassilieva.^[9]

Variety reported in April 2009 that Fanning would be starring in Academy Award-winning screenwriter Sofia Coppola's new film, Somewhere. The plot centers around a "bad-boy" actor who is forced to re-evaluate his life when his daughter, played by Fanning, arrives unexpectedly.^[10] The film was released during the 2010 awards season. At its first film festival, the 67th Venice Film Festival, it took out the Golden Lion.^[11]

In late 2010, Fanning began working on Francis Ford Coppola's new film Twixt, that Coppola wrote, based on a dream he had.^[12] She plays the role of a young ghost named V.

In 2011, Fanning starred in in J. J. Abrams' sci-fi-drama film Super 8 as Alice Dainard. The movie was released on June 10, 2011 and centers around a group of kids who are forced to deal with strange happenings in their small town.^[13] For this role, Fanning was introduced to a much more mainstream audience, leading to this becoming her breakout role. She received overwhelming critical acclaim and was reported by several critics and fans as a frontrunner to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

In December 2011, Fanning appeared in Cameron Crowe's We Bought a Zoo.^[14] She played Lily, a thirteen-year-old who is working illegally at the zoo's restaurant, and lives on the property with her only parental figure, Kelly (Scarlett Johansson).

Filmography[link]

Notable TV guest appearances[link]

Awards[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Elle Fanning at the Internet Movie Database