Venice 2023 Golden Lion – Emma Stone in Lanthimos’ ‘Poor Things’
by Alex Billington
September 10, 2023
Source: Biennale
“A woman plotting her course to freedom – how delightful!” The 80th Venice Film Festival wrapped up this weekend on the sunny Lido island in Venice, and awards were handed out at a fancy awards show in the Sala Grande. The top prize at Venice is a Golden Lion (in honor of the iconic lion that is the symbol of the city) and it’s one of the top prizes in cinema along with the Palme d’Or. This year’s winner is the exciting, vibrant, funky film from acclaimed Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos, called Poor Things, starring Emma Stone as Bella Baxter, a young woman who goes on a journey of sexual awakening. It received the loudest cheers + applause at the end of its press screening during the festival, and seems to be everyone’s favorite this year. Pop open the champagne! It truly deserves this prestigious film festival prize! Last year’s winner was the doc All the Beauty & the Bloodshed. Awards were also given out to Best Actor / Actress and Best Director, along with a number of other fest highlights. View the full list of #Venezia80 winners below.
Main Venice Awards
The Venezia Jury, chaired by Damien Chazelle, with Saleh Bakri, Jane Campion, Mia Hansen-Løve, Gabriele Mainetti, Martin McDonagh, Santiago Mitre, Laura Poitras, and Shu Qi, having viewed all 23 films, awards:
Golden Lion for Best Film:
Poor Things by Yorgos Lanthimos
Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize:
Evil Does Not Exist (悪は存在しない) by Ryusuke Hamaguchi
Silver Lion Award for Best Director:
Matteo Garrone for the film Io Capitano
Coppa Volpi for Best Actress:
Cailee Spaeny in the film Priscilla by Sofia Coppola
Coppa Volpi for Best Actor:
Peter Sarsgaard in the film Memory by Michel Franco
Award for Best Screenplay:
Guillermo Calderón & Pablo Larraín for El Conde also directed by Larraín
Special Jury Prize:
Green Border (Zielona Granica) by Agnieszka Holland
Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor or Actress:
Seydou Sarr in the film Io Capitano by Matteo Garrone
“Luigi De Laurentiis” Venice Award for a Debut Film:
Love Is a Gun (愛是一把槍) by Lee Hong-Chi
Orizzonti Section Awards
The Orizzonti 2023 Jury, chaired by Jonas Carpignano, also with Kaouther Ben Hania, Kahlil Joseph, Jean-Paul Salomé, Tricia Truttle, after screening the 18 feature-length films + 13 shorts in competition, awards:
Orizzonti Award for Best Film:
Explanation for Everything (Magyarázat Mindenre) by Gábor Reisz
Orizzonti Award for Best Director:
Paradise is Burning (Paradiset Brinner) by Mika Gustafson
Special Orizzonti Jury Prize:
An Endless Sunday (Una Sterminata Domenica) by Alain Parroni
Orizzonti Award for Best Actress:
Margarita Rosa De Francisco in the film El Paraíso by Enrico Maria Artale
Orizzonti Award for Best Actor:
Tergel Bold-Erdene in the film City of Wind (JangSer Ser Salhi) by Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir
Orizzonti Award for Best Screenplay:
Enrico Maria Artale for El Paraíso also directed by Enrico Maria Artale
That’s all for now. For the full list of awards (including a few more), head to labiennale.org. Congratulations to all of the winners this year. I am quite happy with these picks in 2023! Chazelle and his fellow jurors have chosen well. Lanthimos’ Poor Things absolutely IS the best film of the festival (read our review), and I’m so glad it won the Golden Lion. Huzzah!! Many critics were also talking about Green Border winning, more as a political statement than anything else – it’s about refugees trying to cross the border into Poland and how horribly they’re treated, with a zinger at the end about Ukrainians getting much better treatment than all of the Middle Eastern / African people. It won the Jury Prize for this reason, but it’s better that it didn’t win the top prize. It’s also quite nice to see Cailee Spaeny from Priscilla winning with her elegant performance. As for Best Actor, I would’ve rather given it to Mads Mikkelsen in The Promised Land but that’s my pick. As always, all of the winners are good films to catch in the theater. For all of our Venice 2023 posts, click here.
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