List of Big Three film festivals winners

This list holds these three most prestigious film festivals in Europe, collectively known as the "Big Three":

• Berlin International Film Festival – held in Berlin, Germany.
• Cannes Film Festival – held in Cannes, a city in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France.
• Venice Film Festival – held in Venice, a city in Veneto, Italy.

Top prizes

Each major winners consist the Palme d'Or (Special Palme d'Or is included), Golden Bear and Golden Lion. As of 2025, only five filmmakers have won all the top prizes, with four have all won the actual prizes.

• Jean-Luc Godard is the only filmmaker to received a Special Palme d'Or as a non-competitive prize despite not winning an actual prize.
• Henri-Georges Clouzot is the only filmmaker to received all top prizes in two different films, one of his films was The Wages of Fear , which won two major prizes in a single year.

Georges Clouzot, completed in 1953.

Antonioni, completed in 1967.

Altman, completed in 1993.

Godard, completed in 2018; the longest gap between first and last prizes he received in 53 years.

Panahi, completed in 2025.

Name	Golden Bear	Year Awarded	Palme d'Or	Year Awarded	Golden Lion	Year Awarded	Year Completed
Henri-Georges Clouzot	The Wages of Fear	1953	The Wages of Fear	1953	Manon	1949	1949–1953 (4 years)
Michelangelo Antonioni [a]	La Notte	1961	Blowup	1967	Red Desert	1964	1961–1967 (6 years)
Robert Altman	Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson	1976	M*A*S*H	1970	Short Cuts	1993	1970–1993 (23 years)
Jean-Luc Godard	Alphaville	1965	The Image Book [b]	2018	First Name: Carmen	1983	1965–2018 (53 years)
Jafar Panâhi [a]	Taxi	2015	It Was Just an Accident	2025	The Circle	2000	2000–2025 [1] (25 years)

Two prizes

Filmmakers who have won two major prizes without awarding a single prize from the Big Three.

• Leopold Lindtberg (1946–1951; 5 years)
  • Four in a Jeep – Golden Bear (1951)
  • The Last Chance – Palme d'Or (1946)
• David Lean (1946–1954; 8 years)
  • Hobson's Choice – Golden Bear (1954)
  • Brief Encounter – Palme d'Or (1946)
• Roberto Rossellini (1946–1959; 13 years)
  • Rome, Open City – Palme d'Or (1946)
  • General Della Rovere – Golden Lion (1959)
• Vittorio De Sica (1951–1971; 20 years)
  • The Garden of the Finzi-Continis – Golden Bear (1971)
  • Miracle in Milan – Palme d'Or (1951)
• Louis Malle (1956–1987; 31 years)
  • The Silent World – Palme d'Or (1956)
  • Atlantic City (1980) and Goodbye, Children (1987) – Golden Lion
• Luis Buñuel (1961–1967; 6 years)
  • Viridiana – Palme d'Or (1961)
  • Belle de Jour – Golden Lion (1967)
• Ermanno Olmi (1978–1988; 10 years)
  • The Tree of Wooden Clogs – Palme d'Or (1978)
  • The Legend of the Holy Drinker – Golden Lion (1988)
• John Cassavetes (1980–1984; 4 years)
  • Love Streams – Golden Bear (1984)
  • Gloria – Golden Lion (1980)
• Akira Kurosawa (1980–1985; 5 years)
  • Kagemusha – Palme d'Or (1980)
  • Rashamon – Golden Lion (1985)
• Costa-Gavras (1982–1989)
  • Music Box – Golden Bear (1989)
  • Missing – Palme d'Or (1982)
• Zhang Yimou (1988–1999; 11 years)
  • Red Sorghum – Golden Bear (1988)
  • The Story of Qiu Ju (1992) and Not One Less (1999) – Golden Lion
• Ang Lee (1993–2007; 14 years)
  • The Wedding Banquet (1993) and Senseand Sensibility (1995) – Golden Bear
  • Brokeback Mountain (2005) and Lust, Caution (2007) – Golden Lion
• Mike Leigh (1996–2004; 8 years)
  • Secrets & Lies – Palme d'Or (1996)
  • Vera Drake – Golden Lion (2004)
• Terrence Malick (1999–2011; 12 years)
  • The Thin Red Line – Golden Bear (1999)
  • The Tree of Life – Palme d'Or (2011)

Runner-up prizes

Each second place or runner-up winners consist the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize, Cannes's Grand Prix and Venice's Grand Jury Prize. As of 2025, Pier Paolo Pasolini is the only filmmaker to have won all the prizes.

Pasolini, completed in 1974.

Name	Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize	Year Awarded	Grand Prix	Year Awarded	Venice Film Festival for Grand Jury Prize	Year Awarded	Year Completed
Pier Paolo Pasolini	Il Decameron	1971	Arabian Nights	1974	The Gospel According to St. Matthew	1964	1964–1974 (10 years)

Two prizes

Filmmakers who have won two major prizes without awarding a single prize from the Big Three.

• Roman Polanski (1965–2019; 54 years)
  • Repulsion – Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize (1965)
  • An Officer and a Spy – Venice Film Festival for Grand Jury Prize (2019)
• Éric Rohmer (1967–1976; 9 years)
  • La Collectionneuse – Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize (1967)
  • The Marquise of O – Grand Prix (1976)
• Werner Herzog (1968–1975; 7 years)
  • Signs of Life – Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize (1968)
  • The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser – Grand Prix (1975)
• Nanni Moretti (1981–1986; 5 years)
  • The Mass Is Ended – Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize (1986)
  • Sweet Dreams – Venice Film Festival for Grand Jury Prize (1981)
• Zhang Yimou (1994–2000; 6 years)
  • The Road Home – Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize (2000)
  • To Live – Grand Prix (1994)
• Tsai Ming-liang (1997–2013; 16 years)
  • The River – Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize (1997)
  • Stray Dogs – Venice Film Festival for Grand Jury Prize (2013)
• Ryusuke Hamaguchi (2021–2023; 2 years)
  • Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy – Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize (2021)
  • Evil Does Not Exist – Venice Film Festival for Grand Jury Prize (2023)

Directing prizes

Anderson, completed in 2012.

Name	Silver Bear for Best Director	Year Awarded	Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Director	Year Awarded	Silver Lion for Best Direction	Year Awarded	Year Completed
Paul Thomas Anderson	There Will Be Blood	2008	Punch-Drunk Love	2002	The Master	2012	2002–2012 [2] (10 years)

Two prizes

Filmmakers who have won two directing prizes without awarding a single prize from the Big Three.

• Akira Kurosawa (1954–1959; 5 years)
  • The Hidden Fortress – Silver Bear for Best Director (1959)
  • Seven Samurai – Silver Lion for Best Direction (1954)
• Martin Scorsese (1986–1990; 4 years)
  • After Hours – Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Director (1986)
  • Goodfellas – Silver Lion for Best Direction (1990)
• Emir Kusturica (1989–1998; 9 years)
  • Time of the Gypsies – Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Director (1989)
  • Black Cat, White Cat – Silver Lion for Best Direction (1998)

Acting prizes

Male

Name	Berlin [c]	Year Awarded	Cannes	Year Awarded	Venice	Year Awarded	Year Completed
Jack Lemmon	Tribute	1980	The China Syndrome Missing	1979 1982	Glengarry Glen Ross	1992	1979–1992 (13 years)
Sean Penn	Dead Man Walking	1996	She's So Lovely	1997	Hurlyburly' 21 Grams	1998 2003	1996–1998 (2 years)

Female

Name	Berlin [c]	Year Awarded	Cannes	Year Awarded	Venice	Year Awarded	Year Completed
Juliette Binoche	The English Patient	1997	Certified Copy	2010	Three Colors: Blue	1993	1993–2010 (17 years)
Julianne Moore	The Hours	2003 [d]	Maps to the Stars	2014	Far from Heaven	2002	2002–2014 (12 years)

Independent prizes

FIPRESCI Prize

Main article: International Federation of Film Critics

Name	Berlin	Year Awarded	Cannes	Year Awarded	Venice	Year Awarded	Year Completed
Ingmar Bergman	Wild Strawberries	1958	The Virgin Spring	1960	Fanny and Alexander	1983	1958–1983 (25 years)

OCIC Award

Main article: SIGNIS

Name	Berlin	Year Awarded	Cannes	Year Awarded	Venice	Year Awarded	Year Completed
Robert Bresson	Four Nights of a Dreamer The Devil Probably	1971 1977	The Trial of Joan of Arc Mouchette	1962 1967	Diary of a Country Priest Au hasard Balthazar	1951 1966	1951–1971 (20 years) 1971–1977 (6 years)

Notes

1. Also won the Golden Leopard
2. Awarded as Special Palme d'Or
3. Starting with the 71st Berlin International Film Festival (2021), the Best Actor and Best Actress categories were consolidated into a single Best Leading Performance category. ^[3]
4. Shared with Nicole Kidman and Meryl Streep

References

1. Roxborough, Scott (2025-05-24). "Jafar Panahi Wins Cannes Palme d'Or for 'It Was Just an Accident'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2025-05-25.
2. "Day-Lewis's final cut is the deepest". Henley Standard . February 5, 2018. Retrieved 2022-02-10.
3. "Aug 24, 2020 Berlinale 2021: Festival Planned as Physical Event / New: Gender-Neutral Performance Awards". Berlin Film Festival. Berlin Film Festival. Retrieved 3 June 2025.