Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


Sofia Coppola Wins Top Prize at Venice Film Festival

   Sabina Castelfranco 12 September 2010
   Director  Sofia  Coppola  with  her  Golden  Lion  award  for the film
   Somewhere at the Award Ceremony at the 67th edition of the Venice Film
   Festival in Venice, Italy, 11 Sep 2010

Photo: AP

   Director  Sofia  Coppola  with  her  Golden  Lion  award  for the film
   Somewhere at the Award Ceremony at the 67th edition of the Venice Film
   Festival in Venice, Italy, 11 Sep 2010

   Film  director  Sofia  Coppola  took  home the top prize at the Venice
   International  Film  Festival,  receiving it from her former boyfriend
   Quentin  Tarantino.  She  said she was very proud to win the award and
   thanked her father for teaching her.

   Sofia  Coppola's  Somewhere, a comic drama about a bad-boy actor who's
   stumbling  through  a  life  of Hollywood excess, until his adolescent
   daughter  comes to live with him, won the Golden Lion for best film at
   the Venice International Film Festival.

   Coppola  based Somewhere on her own upbringing as the daughter of film
   director  Francis  Ford  Coppola.  Somewhere is set almost entirely in
   hotels  and  on  the road. The film made its world premiere in Venice.
   Coppola was thrilled with the award.

   "I'm so proud, I can't believe it, they said maybe you'll get a prize,
   I  can't  believe  it,  I'm  very proud and excited for our film," she
   said.

   Coppola  herself  grew  up  in the world of film thanks to her father,
   director  Francis  Ford  Coppola.  When  presenting  the film, Coppola
   reminisced  that  she and her family spent a lot of time growing up in
   hotels where her father was out on location while filming.

   She said her father loved the film and thanked him for teaching her as
   she received the award.

   Other awards included the Silver Lion for best director, which went to
   Alex  de  la  Iglesia for his Balada triste de Trompeta (A Sad Trumpet
   Ballad).  The  Spanish director also won the best screenplay award for
   the film.

   The  top  actor  award was given to Vincent Gallo, who played a terror
   suspect  plotting his escape in Essential Killing. Best actress honors
   were  awarded  to  Ariana Lebed, a Greek actress who discovers herself
   through her friendships, in the film Attenberg.

.