Maggie Gyllenhaal’s Venice Jury Didn’t Award ‘Woman Unknown’ the Golden Lion Just Because It Was Directed by a Woman: It ‘Was Like a Laser Beam’

Maggie Gyllenhaal kicked off her term as Venice jury president by calling out the lack of women filmmakers in the running for the prestigious Golden Lion. And on Saturday night, she concluded it by awarding the prize to the only film solely directed by a woman: May el-Toukhy’s “Woman Unknown.”

But at a press conference after the awards ceremony, Gyllenhaal rejected the notion that she and her fellow jury members were making any sort of “political statement,” as one journalist put it, with their selection. “I actually didn’t see ‘Woman Unknown,'” she deadpanned. “I just was like, ‘It’s made by a woman and so, Golden Lion!'”

Speaking sincerely, Gyllenhaal continued: “I will say that, of course, I anticipated that question. There are many movies that women made that I don’t like and some that I actively, strongly don’t like, just like films made by men. I have one vote just as each member of this jury does, and so all of the decisions that we make are always complicated, always involve a lot of conversation.”

She sighed and added, “I think I’m tired of talking about this same subject over and over. I will continue to do it, but just for a minute, here in this incredible place, I just want to celebrate a beautifully made movie that I felt was like a laser beam just for the well-made movie that it is.”

Gyllenhaal’s jury also consisted of “The Voice of Hind Rajab” director Kaouther Ben Hania, Hong Kong filmmaking giant Johnnie To, Afghan filmmaker Shahrbanoo Sadat, French director and screenwriter Xavier Giannoli, “The Brutalist” composer Daniel Blumberg and U.S.-based Italian film academic Francesco Casetti.

She also explained the jury’s decision to award “Woman Unknown” star Mathilde Arcel with the Volpi Cup for best actress. “You’re allowed to give two awards to a Golden Lion winner if the second award you want to give is unanimous,” Gyllenhaal said. “So we unanimously allowed to award Mathilde, who I’d like to say publicly, for all the press, is going to blow our socks off.”

The only other movie in competition involving a woman director was “NAZA,” which was co-helmed by Rachel Szor and Yuval Abraham. The powerful documentary about the conflict in Gaza took home the special jury prize.

Asked about it during the press conference, Gyllenhaal said she admired the film’s “immense bravery and intelligence.” She added that her fellow juror Ben Hania helped illuminate her to the fact that “the way in which it’s shot and put together is about systems.”

“I know Jonathan Glazer, who made ‘Zone of Interest,’ was one of the producers — it reminded me a little bit of ‘Zone of Interest’ in that way, which is also about systems,” she continued. “And one of the things that I loved about the film was the way that it non-literally expressed that.”

See the full list of Venice award winners here.