Venice GdA Winners: Iranian Drama ‘Inside Amir’ Takes Top Director’s Award In Parallel Section
Iranian director Amir Azizi’s biographical drama has won the top GdA Director’s Award at the 22nd edition of Venice parallel section Giornate degli Autori, which was previously known as Venice Days.
Described as a love letter to Tehran and based loosely on Azizi’s own experiences, Inside Amir explores what it means to leave one mother country for a life elsewhere.
Amirhossein Hosseini plays Amir, a young man in Tehran on the verge of emigrating to join his fiancée in Italy. As his departure date draws closer, Amir reflects on scattered memories and unfinished conversations, and frets about leaving his beloved push-bike behind.
The GdA Director’s Award carries a cash prize of €20,000, which is split equally between the filmmaker and the film’s international distributor.
This year’s GdA jury was headed by Norwegian writer and director Dag Johan Haugerud, whose Dreams (Sex Love) win the Golden Bear at the 2025 Berlinale and whose breakout film, Barn, premiered at Giornate 2019.
He was joined by together with the Italian producer of Vermiglio, Francesca Andreoli; the Franco-Palestinian filmmaker Lina Soualem, whose award-winning documentary Bye Bye Tiberias world premieried in GdA in 2023, Tunisian cinematographer Sofian El Fani (Blue Is The Warmest Colour, Timbuktu).
“The film we will honor tonight is a meditation on everyday life. It reminds us of how daily routines, movements, and conversations with friends provide both security and freedom,” read the jury statement.
“With a framing that little by little reveals a complex life marked by loss and grief against a backdrop of exile and social upheaval, the film asks fundamental questions about what it means to belong and the existential doubts that follow in the wake of such thoughts.”
Inside Amir was among 11 feature films showcased in the main GdA competition this year.
In collateral prizes, the Europa Cinemas Label – run by the titular European exhibitors’ network – went to Greek director Stergios Dinopoulos and Greek-New Zealand director-writer Krysianna B. Papadakis’ Bearcave (Arkoudotrypa).
Under the award, the film will receive promotional support from Europa Cinemas and better exhibition thanks to a financial incentive for cinemas in the network to include it in their programming schedule.
The Jury consisted of Manuel Asín (Cine Estudio del Círculo de Bellas Artes, Madrid, Spain), Simon Blaas (Cinema Middelburg, Middelburg, The Netherlands); Ivan Frenguelli (PostModernissimo, Perugia, Italy) and Signe-Annie Lindstedt (Zita Folkets Bio, Stockholm, Sweden).
Set in a mountain village in Greece, the drama revolves around the relationship between two queer young women navigating the social mores of their rural community.
“Bearcave is a really fresh and energetic feature debut from Stergios Dinopolous and Krysianna B. Papadakis, with a young and very talented crew behind them. The film follows the relationship between two young queer women high up in the Balkan mountains. Both a clash and a fusion of the old and new, the film is constructed a little like a thriller, but there is also more than a touch of the supernatural,” read the jury statement.
“The music, editing and photography are really original, and the performances by the two girls are exceptional. We really hope that the award of the Label will encourage distributors and audiences around Europe.”
The People’s Choice Award, determined on the basis of the preferences expressed by viewers in attending the GdA screenings, was won by two films ex aequo: Memory by Vladlena Sandu and A Sad and Beautiful World by Cyril Aris.
Both films scored a 77.4% of the audience vote.
Ukrainian director Vladlena Sandu’s drama Memory revolves around a six-year-old girl who moves from Crimea to Grozny after her parents’ divorce, unaware that war will soon consume her childhood.
When the Soviet Union collapses, the Chechen Republic fragments. Her Russian-speaking friends are forced to flee, while deported Chechens return to reclaim their homeland. Tensions rise and armed conflict erupts. Read Deadline’s review here.
Lebanese director Aris’s Beirut-set feature A Sad and Beautiful World revolves follows the love story of childhood sweethearts Yasmina and Nino, as their relationship developing unfolds across three decades against the backdrop of Lebanon’s turbulent history.
