Venice Film Festival crowns 'Poor Creatures' and sends messages on immigration

A feminist fiction in the baroque style wins the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival: Poor Creatures, by Yorgos Lanthimos, won, Saturday, September 9, the most prestigious award of the film festival. A favorite of international critics, this film is already well on its way to the Oscar race. For the rest, the jury chaired by Damien Chazelle sent a political signal in a country led by the President of the Council of Ministers, Giorgia Meloni, a far-right figure.

Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos won the Golden Lion at the 80th Venice Film Festival on September 9, 2023, with his film "Poor Creatures." AP - Gian Mattia D'Alberto

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with our special envoy in Venice, Sophie Torlotin

Golden Lion 2023, Poor Creatures is a surreal film in more ways than one. The subject already, which follows the fate of a young English woman played by Emma Stone, whom a Frankenstein type doctor creates by grafting a baby's brain on an adult body. Surreal, the photography of this film directed by the Greek Yorgos Lanthimos is too.

But the substance of the subject is very current: the emancipation of a young woman who will discover her power and independence by regaining possession of her body and her sexual desire.

#BiennaleCinema2023 #Venezia80 pic.twitter.com/Op57NS0OD5

— La Biennale di Venezia (@la_Biennale) September 9, 2023

The rest of the list sends a strong signal of solidarity with migrants. Three of the main prizes go to films dealing with the migration crisis in Europe. Zielona Granica (Green Border) by Polish director Agnieszka Holland, a shock film about the fate of migrants tossed between Poland and Belarus, receives the special jury prize.

Me Captain by Matteo Garrone, which tells the journey of two Senegalese across Africa and the Mediterranean to reach Italy, won the Silver Lion for best direction, as well as the Marcello Mastroianni prize for best young hope for actor Seydou Sarr, 21.

- Golden Lion for Best Film: Poor Creatureby Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos

- Silver Lion - Grand Jury Prize: Aku wa sonzai shinai ("Evil does not exist") by Ryusuke Hamaguchi (Japan)

- Silver Lion for Best Director: Matteo Garrone for Me, Captain (Italy)

- Best Actress: Cailee Spaeny for her role in Sofia Coppola's Priscilla

- Best Actor: Peter Sarsgaard for his role in Memory by Michel Franco

- Best Screenplay: Guillermo Calderon and Pablo Larrain for El Conde by Pablo Larrain

- Special Jury Prize: Zielona granica (Green Border) by Polish director Agnieszka Holland

- Marcello Mastroianni Young Hope Award: Seydou Sarr for his role in I, Captain by Matteo Garrone

Read alsoItaly: Giorgia Meloni convenes a Mediterranean conference on migration

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• Cinema
• Venice Film Festival
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• Immigration
• Giorgia Meloni