There should be a new offence for the criminal statute books. “Are you now or have you ever been a Venice Film Festival juror?” This event has a history of mad prizes even more egregious than Cannes. But in the case of the 2008 Golden Lion awarded to The Wrestler, insanity should not be allowed as a defence. That would let jury president Wim Wenders and his team off the hook. What were they thinking of? There were so many better, more ambitious, more daring, more innovative films. (And aren’t those what festivals are for?)

One critics’ favourite, Haile Gerima’s Teza, already praised on this page, was consoled with a double guerdon of runner-up Special Jury Prize and Best Screenplay. But Miyazaki’s Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, that explosion of painterly imagination, went prizeless. So did the best-liked American film, Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker.