80th Venice International Film Festival - La Biennale Cinema 2023 winners

Venice International Film Festival has always been one of the most prestigious cinematic events of the year, but it has become the very first stop for the pre-awards season. Ever since 2017, when Del Toro's The Shape of Water won the Golden Lion for Best Film that the festival's top prize winner has been a major Oscar player: 2018's Roma, 2019's Joker and 2020's Nomadland ended-up getting a Best Picture nom (with the last one winning); 2021's The Happening didn't get major award love in the US (mostly because it didn't get a major distributor able to handle an awards campaign); and 2022's All the Beauty and the Bloodshed ended-up nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

So... the Jury for the main competition named Yorgos Lanthimos' Poor Things the Best Film of the festival, while Hamaguchi's Evil Does Not Exist (the director of Drive My Car) took home the Grand Jury Prize. A note about Cailee Spaeny (Priscilla) who I was pretty confident would be awarded the Marcello Mastroianni Prize, took home the Volpi Cup for Best Actress instead!

So, considering Poor Things not only won the Golden Lion, but it also has Searchlight as its distributor, I believe it's safe to say it will do amazingly during the awards season and it will become a major Best Picture contender for the Academy Awards.

Here are the list of winners for the Main Competition and for the Horizons Selection:

Main competition

GOLDEN LION, BEST FILM

Poor Things, Yorgos Lanthimos

GRAND JURY PRIZE

Evil Does Not Exist, Ryusuke Hamaguchi

SILVER LION, BEST DIRECTOR

Matteo Garrone, Io Capitano

SPECIAL JURY PRIZE

Green Border, Agnieszka Holland

GOLDEN OSELLA FOR BEST SCREENPLAY

Guillermo Calderon & Pablo Larrain, El Conde

VOLPI CUP, BEST ACTRESS

Cailee Spaeny, Priscilla

VOLPI CUP, BEST ACTOR

Peter Sarsgaard, Memory

MARCELLO MASTROIANNI PRIZE

Seydou Sarr, Io Capitano

Orizzonti (Horizons)

BEST FILM

Explanation for Everything, Gabor Reisz

BEST DIRECTOR

Mika Gustafson, Paradiset Brinner (Paradise is Burning)

SPECIAL JURY PRIZE

Una Sterminata Domenica, Alain Parroni

BEST ACTRESS

Margarita Rosa De Francisco, El Paraíso

BEST ACTOR

Tergel Bold-Erdene, City of Wind

BEST SCREENPLAY

Enrico Maria Artale, El Paraíso

Best Short Film

A Short Trip, Erenik Beqiri

Lion of the Future - Venice Award for a Debut Film

(Al Shi Yi Ba Qiang) Love Is a Gun, Lee Hong-Ch

Orizzonti Extra - Audience Award

Felicita, Micheala Ramazotti

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