Camper van gets red-carpet role as Nomadland wins Golden Lion at Venice Film Festival

While Cate Blanchett walked the red carpet at the Venice Film Festival, the winners of the top award accepted the honour from a camper van.

Jury Members Matt Dillon, Joanna Hogg, Ludivine Sagnier, jury president Cate Blanchett, Veronika Franz and Christian Petzold walk the red carpet at the 77th Venice Film Festival on September 12 in Venice, Italy. Picture: Getty

While Cate Blanchett walked the red carpet at the Venice Film Festival, where she was jury president, the winners of the top Golden Lion award accepted the honour from a camper van in the US, via video link.

That was the socially distant conclusion to the world’s oldest film festival, where the sparse population of celebrities wore masks and screening rooms were less than half-full.

Nomadland, featuring Frances McDormand as a grey nomad who goes on a road trip through the US in the grip of economic recession, won the award for best film, the Golden Lion.

Director Chloe Zhao and McDormand appeared by video from Pasadena, California, where they sat inside the van used in the film. “Thank you so much for letting us come to your festival in this weird, weird world and way,” McDormand said. “But we’re ­really glad you let us come. And we’ll see you down the road!”

Director Chloe Zhao and Frances McDormand in their camper van. Picture: Todd Williamson

So many people were unable to attend the festival this year because of travel restrictions that the Golden Lion was accepted by the film’s marketing team.

Britain’s Vanessa Kirby, known for her role as Princess Margaret in The Crown, won the best actress award for her performance in Pieces of a Woman, about a home birth that goes terribly wrong. Best actor was Italy’s Pierfrancesco Fabino for Padrenostro (Our Father), a coming-of-age drama.

Japanese director Kiyoshi Kurosawa won the Silver Lion for best director for Wife of a Spy, while the Silver Lion grand jury prize went to Mexico’s Michel Franco for New Order.

Venice was the first major film event to go ahead since the pandemic and festival director Alberto Barbera described it as “sort of test” for the film industry.

In ordinary years, Venice is one of the most glamorous events in the film calendar, attended by global cinema’s leading talents, as well as critics and film executives.

In selecting Nomadland, Blanchett said the jury’s deliberations were “healthy and robust”.

“Good discussion is good ­discussion with a mask or not,” she said.