Silver Lion

For the coin issued in 1790, see Brabant Revolution coinage.

Silver Lion
Leone d'argento (Italian)
2025 recipient: Benny Safdie
Awarded for	Best Direction
Location	Venice
Country	Italy
Presented by	Venice Film Festival
First award	1953
Currently held by	Benny Safdie for The Smashing Machine (2025)
Website	labiennale.org/en/cinema

The Silver Lion (Italian : Leone d'argento, also known as Silver Lion for Best Direction) is an annual award presented for best directing achievements in a feature film in the official competition section of the Venice Film Festival since 1998.

The prize has been awarded irregularly and has gone through several changes of purpose. Between 1953 and 1994, the award was given infrequently to a number of films as second prize for those nominated for the Golden Lion. At various times, the Silver Lion has also been awarded for debut films, short films, direction, and writing.

Since 1990, the Silver Lion has been presented to the director of a feature film in the official competition; Martin Scorsese was the first official winner of the award for Goodfellas , while Benny Safdie is the most recent winner for The Smashing Machine in 2025.

Silver Lion for Best Direction (1990–present)

Martin Scorsese won for Goodfellas (1990)

Paul Thomas Anderson won for The Master (2012)

Andrei Konchalovsky won twice for The Postman's White Nights (2014) and Paradise (2016)

Jane Campion won for The Power of the Dog (2021)

Brady Corbet won for The Brutalist (2024).

1990s

Year	Director	English Title	Original Title
1990	Martin Scorsese	Goodfellas
1998	Emir Kusturica	Black Cat, White Cat	Црна мачка, бели мачор
1999	Zhang Yuan	Seventeen Years	過年回家

2000s

Year	Director	English Title	Original Title
2000	Buddhadeb Dasgupta	Uttara	উত্তরা
2001	Babak Payami	Secret Ballot	رأی مخفی
2002	Lee Chang-dong	Oasis	오아시스
2003	Takeshi Kitano	Zatōichi	座頭市
2004	Kim Ki-duk	3-Iron	빈집
2005	Philippe Garrel	Regular Lovers	Les Amants réguliers
2006	Alain Resnais	Private Fears in Public Places	Cœurs
2007	Brian De Palma	Redacted
2008	Aleksei Alekseivich German	Paper Soldier	Бумажный солдат
2009	Shirin Neshat	Women Without Men	زنان بدون مردان

2010s

Year	Director	English Title	Original Title
2010	Álex de la Iglesia	The Last Circus	Balada triste de trompeta
2011	Cai Shangjun	People Mountain People Sea	人山人海
2012	Paul Thomas Anderson	The Master
2013	Alexandros Avranas	Miss Violence
2014	Andrei Konchalovsky	The Postman's White Nights	Белые ночи почтальона Алексея Тряпицына
2015	Pablo Trapero	The Clan	El Clan
2016	/ Amat Escalante	The Untamed	La región salvaje
	Andrei Konchalovsky	Paradise	Рай
2017	Xavier Legrand	Custody	Jusqu'à la garde
2018	Jacques Audiard	The Sisters Brothers
2019	Roy Andersson	About Endlessness	Om det oändliga

2020s

Year	Director	English Title	Original Title
2020	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Wife of a Spy	スパイの妻
2021	Jane Campion	The Power of the Dog
2022	Luca Guadagnino	Bones and All
2023	Matteo Garrone	Io Capitano
2024	Brady Corbet	The Brutalist
2025	Benny Safdie	The Smashing Machine

Multiple Winners

The following individuals received two or more Silver Lion for Best Direction awards:

Number of Wins	Director	Nationality	Films
2	Andrei Konchalovsky	Russia	The Postman's White Nights (2014) and Paradise (2016)

Defunct Categories

Silver Lion Prize (1953–1994)

From 1953 to 1957, the Silver Lion was awarded to a number of films nominated for the Golden Lion as a second prize. From 1988 to 1994, the Silver Lion was awarded to one or more films nominated for the Golden Lion.

Year	English Title	Original Title	Director(s)
1953	Little Fugitive		Raymond Abrashkin, Morris Engel, and Ruth Orkin
	Moulin Rouge		John Huston
	Sadko	Садко	Aleksandr Ptushko
	Thérèse Raquin		Marcel Carné
	Ugetsu	雨月物語	Kenji Mizoguchi
	I Vitelloni		Federico Fellini
1954	On the Waterfront		Elia Kazan
	Sansho the Bailiff	山椒大夫	Kenji Mizoguchi
	Seven Samurai	七人の侍	Akira Kurosawa
	La Strada		Federico Fellini
1955	Le Amiche		Michelangelo Antonioni
	The Big Knife		Robert Aldrich
	Ciske the Rat	Ciske de Rat	Wolfgang Staudte
	The Grasshopper	Попрыгунья	Samson Samsonov
1957	White Nights	Le Notti Bianche	Luchino Visconti
1988	Landscape in the Mist	Τοπίο στην ομίχλη	Theo Angelopoulos
1989	Death of a Tea Master	千利休 本覺坊遺文	Kei Kumai
	Recollections of the Yellow House	Recordações da Casa Amarela	João César Monteiro
1991	The Fisher King		Terry Gilliam
	J'entends plus la guitare		Philippe Garrel
	Raise the Red Lantern	大紅燈籠高高掛	Zhang Yimou
1992	A Heart in Winter	Un cœur en hiver	Claude Sautet
	Jamón jamón		Bigas Luna
	Luxury Hotel	Hotel de lux	Dan Pița
1993	Kosh ba kosh	Кош-ба-кош	Bakhtyar Khudojnazarov
1994	Heavenly Creatures		Peter Jackson
	Little Odessa		James Gray
	The Bull		Carlo Mazzacurati

Silver Lion for Best First Work (1981–1982) ^[1]

Year	English Title	Original Title	Director(s)	Production Country
1981	Do You Remember Dolly Bell?	Сјећаш ли се Доли Бел?	Emir Kusturica	Yugoslavia
1982	Sciopèn		Luciano Odorisio	Italy
	The Hes Case	De smaak van water	Orlow Seunke	Netherlands

Silver Lion for Best First Film (1983–1987)

Year	English Title	Original Title	Director(s)	Production Country
1983	Sugar Cane Alley	La Rue Cases-Nègres	Euzhan Palcy	France
1984	Sonatine		Micheline Lanctôt	Canada
1985	Dust		Marion Hänsel	Belgium, France
1986	A King and His Movie	La película del rey	Carlos Sorín	Argentina
1987	Maurice		James Ivory	United Kingdom

Silver Lion for Best Screenplay (1990)

Year	Screenwriter	English Title	Original Title	Production Country
1990	Helle Ryslinge	Sirup		Denmark

Silver Lion for Best Short Film (1996–2007)

Year	Original Title	Director
1996	O Tamaiti	Sima Urale
1999	Portrait of a Young Man Drowning	Teboho Mahlatsi
2000	A Telephone Call for Genevieve Snow	Peter Long
2001	Freunde	Jan Krüger
2002	Clown	Irina Evteeva
2003	Neft	Murad Ibragimbekov
2004	Signe d'appartenance	Kamel Cherif
2005	Xiaozhan	Chien-ping Lin
2006	Comment on freine dans une descente?	Alix Delaporte
2007	Dog Altogether	Paddy Considine

Silver Lion for Revelation (2006)

Year	English Title	Original Title	Director	Production Country
2006	Nuovomondo		Emanuele Crialese	Italy

References

1. "Venice Film Festival 1982 (Competition) – 39ª Mostra internazionale d'arte cinematografica di Venezia". letterboxd.com. 28 June 2013. Retrieved 29 March 2018.

• "Venice Film Festival". Internet Movie Database . Retrieved May 28, 2008.

External links

• La Biennale di Venezia official website