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The main award that is awarded –together with several others – is the Leone d’Oro, which owes its name to the city’s symbol (the lion of St. Mark’s Basilica). Such recognition is considered one of the most important, from the cinematography critic point of view, equal to those awarded at the other two leading European film festivals: Cannes Film Festival’s Palma d’oro and the Berlin International Film Festival’s Orso d’Oro. Taken together, these high-impact awards, often contradicting the American Oscars, usually take place in the spring.