Silver Lion Explained

Silver Lion
Location:	Venice
Country:	Italy
Presenter:	Venice Film Festival
Year:	1953

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 at 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, and direction.

Multiple Winners

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

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
	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
1989	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
	Il toro		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
1982	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 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