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The 82nd Venice Film Festival<\/a> may be over, but the conversations on the films that premiered, the things people said, the clothes they wore, and how it affects the Oscar race are still going.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a rundown of the big moments and takeaways from this year\u2019s edition.<\/p>\n What won big at the Venice Film Festival?<\/p>\n Jim Jarmusch\u2019s quiet film \u201cFather Mother Sister Brother\u201d took the top prize,<\/a> the Golden Lion. It was a surprise to many who expected that honor to go to \u201cThe Voice of Hind Rajab,\u201d<\/a> which ended up with the runner up award, or \u201cNo Other Choice.\u201d<\/p>\n Aside from Benny Safdie\u2019s best director win for \u201cThe Smashing Machine,\u201d Hollywood players were largely shut out of the awards in favor of a diverse, international selection. Chinese actor Xin Zhilei won best actress for Cai Shangjun\u2019s \u201cThe Sun Rises on Us All,\u201d Italian icon Toni Servillo won best actor for \u201cLa Grazia\u201d and Swiss actor Luna Wedler took the up-and-comer prize, the Marcello Mastroianni Award, for \u201cSilent Friend.\u201d<\/p>\n Who might be an Oscars player?<\/p>\n The awards didn\u2019t give many hints, but Venice has been known to launch several best actor campaigns including Joaquin Phoenix in \u201cJoker,\u201d<\/a>Brendan Fraser in \u201cThe Whale\u201d<\/a> and Adrien Brody in \u201cThe Brutalist.\u201d<\/a> This year the most obvious heavyweight to follow is Dwayne Johnson for his turn as MMA fighter Mark Kerr<\/a> in \u201cThe Smashing Machine.\u201d<\/p>\n Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons were also strange and fierce as kidnapped and kidnapper<\/a> in Yorgos Lanthimos\u2019s provocative \u201cBugonia.\u201d Oscar Isaac portrayed Victor Frankenstein as a romantic madman and Jacob Elordi was na\u00efve and raw as the monster. Amanda Seyfried put a human, feminist, face to the religious sect the shakers in \u201cThe Testament of Ann Lee,\u201d and Julia Roberts flexed her acting muscles as a Yale philosophy professor in the midst of a misconduct accusation against a colleague in \u201cAfter the Hunt.\u201d<\/p>\n Filmmakers like Kathryn Bigelow and previous Golden Lion winners Guillermo del Toro and Yorgos Lanthimos will also likely be in the conversation for months to come.<\/p>\n Why was Seth Rogen everywhere?<\/p>\n There\u2019s always some unexpected Hollywood person at the Venice Film Festival who doesn\u2019t seem to be associated with any one film. Sometimes they\u2019ve come in for amfAR,<\/a> sometimes they\u2019ve been invited by one of the festival\u2019s sponsors. But text chains started blowing up when Seth Rogen started popping up everywhere: Red carpets, press conferences, parties. Don\u2019t be surprised if there\u2019s a Venice episode of \u201cThe Studio\u201d<\/a> in the works: This trip was research, and maybe even a little more.<\/p>\n Julia Roberts and Amanda Seyfried\u2019s sisterhood of the traveling Versace?<\/p>\n In a cute, unexpected (possibly highly staged) moment during the festival, Amanda Seyfried commented on Julia Roberts\u2019 Instagram asking to \u201cplease let me wear the same outfit.\u201d Three days later, Seyfried was also rocking the Versace blazer, jeans, button up and belt, just with different shoes. It helps that they share a stylist, Elizabeth Stewart.<\/p>\n There was a record standing ovation<\/p>\n First, let\u2019s just make clear that entertainment trade publications only started tracking Venice standing ovations recently. This year, audiences at the premiere of \u201cThe Voice of Hind Rajab\u201d applauded for 22-minutes, surpassing the 18-minute record set last year by \u201cThe Room Next Door,\u201d which went on to win the Golden Lion. Even with a limited data set, that\u2019s a long time to clap after a movie.<\/p>\n Other standing ovation times from the 82nd festival: \u201cAfter the Hunt\u201d ((tilde)5 minutes), \u201cBugonia\u201d ((tilde)6 minutes), \u201cNo Other Choice\u201d ((tilde)7 minutes), \u201cJay Kelly\u201d ((tilde)9 minutes), \u201cThe Wizard of the Kremlin\u201d ((tilde)10 minutes), \u201cA House of Dynamite\u201d ((tilde)11 minutes), \u201cFrankenstein\u201d ((tilde)14 minutes), \u201cThe Testament of Ann Lee\u201d ((tilde)15 minutes), \u201cThe Smashing Machine\u201d ((tilde)15 minutes).<\/p>\n Politics and war on the big screen<\/p>\n The festival might not take political stances, but politics, and filmmakers grappling with the state of the world, from the Israel-Hamas conflict to nuclear weapons, were clearly top of mind. Kathryn Bigelow set off a warning shot<\/a> about nuclear weapons and the apparatus of decision making with her urgent, and distressingly realistic, thriller \u201cA House of Dynamite.\u201d Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania made an essential document of the human toll in Gaza with \u201cThe Voice of Hind Rajab.\u201d And Olivier Assayas charted the rise of Vladimir Putin in \u201cThe Wizard of the Kremlin.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Gaza also dominated conversations off screen too,<\/a> from a protest that drew an estimated 10,000 people, to awards speeches.<\/a><\/p>\n Best quotes from the 2025 Venice Film Festival<\/p>\n \u201cThe real monsters are the men in suits.\u201d \u2014 Jacob Elordi,<\/a> who plays Frankenstein\u2019s monster in a big budget Netflix film.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been very fortunate to have the career that I\u2019ve had and make the films that I have, but there was just this voice inside of me, this little voice, like what if I can do more.\u201d \u2014 Dwayne Johnson on his transformative, serious turn as MMA fighter Mark Kerr in \u201cThe Smashing Machine.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI consider pretty much all corporate money is dirty money.\u201d \u2014 Filmmaker Jim Jarmusch, when asked about Mubi\u2019s relationship with Sequoia Capital.<\/p>\n \u201cHow is annihilating the world a good defensive measure? I mean, what are you defending?\u201d \u2014 Filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow on the nuclear stockpiles.<\/p>\n \u201cHumanity is facing a reckoning very soon. People need to choose the right path, otherwise, I don\u2019t know how much time we have.\u201d \u2014 Filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos on the relevance of \u201cBugonia.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone comes out with all these different feelings and emotions and points of views. And you realize what you believe in strongly and what your convictions are because we stir it all up for you. So, you\u2019re welcome.\u201d \u2014 Julia Roberts on the debates<\/a> stirred by \u201cAfter the Hunt.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s time at the end of your life to put the puzzle pieces together and make them fit.\u201d \u2014 Kim Novak,<\/a> 92, on receiving the festival\u2019s lifetime achievement award.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n