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

Comments

TOP 35 Actors and Actresses Under 35 Working Today - 2017

The almost annual TOP 35 Actors and Actresses Under 35 Working Today is out, with me considering the performers' performances of 2016 also. We have a few changes since last year's list, with Greta Gerwig toping the list thanks to her last 3 great performances in Mistress America , Maggie's Plan and the Oscar buzzy acting turn in 20th Century Women . Scarlett Johansson comes second with her latest distinguished performance being in 2014 ( Under the Skin ), but she managed to be at the spotligh this year thanks to her fine turns in critically acclaimed movies: Hail, Caesar! , Captain America: Civil War , The Jungle Book (voice) and Sing (voice). Emily Blunt adds another great performance to her resume in The Girl on the Train and she comes third, while Elle Fanning 's turning into one of the finest actresses and she's getting to play more adult and complex parts like The Neon Demon and 20th Century Women 's (her two best performances since Super 8 ). Finall...

TOP 10 Most Promising Movie Actors (under 30)

Today I discussed about how awful some "teen icons" are and then we talked about some exceptions. So, I decided to make a little list, a TOP 10, with the male actors that I think that will become music in an ocean of noise somewhere in the future (I did one list before, but it was a little bit pathetic and I didn't justify my choices). Let's start... 1 - Ryan Gosling He may not have a huge list of movies in his body of work, but the few times he makes something, all the time he almost carries the movie. In fact, Gosling is a proof that talent does exist and that you don't need excentrical characters to receive raves. He rose to fame after the big screen adaptation of The Notebook (2004) and then received lots of critical praise for his performances in movies like Half Nelson (that gave him an Oscar, a SAG Award and other major awards nominations), Lars and the Real Girl (that gave him a Golden Globe, a SAG Award and other major awards nominations) and Fractur...

TOP 35 Actors and Actresses with or under 35 years old: 2018

I think it was my TOP 35 under 35 list I've ever done since I remember: so many great performers emerged last year with distinguished performances that elevated their previous works (I'm talking about Elizabeth Olsen , Lucas Hedges , Robert Pattinson , Gaspard Ulliel , Tessa Thompson or Jamie Bell , for example). I'm kinda sad I felt "forced" at letting Jonah Hill ( Moneyball and The Wolf of Wall Street ) and Emma Watson ( The Perks of Being a Wallflower , The Bling Ring and 2017's Beauty and the Beast ) out of the list. Congratulations to Kirsten Dunst , who turned 35 last year so she can not be included in this year's list - such an amazing child actress turned movie star, who delivered memorable performances in Interview with the Vampire (1994), The Virgin Suicides (1999), The Cat's Meow (2002) or Melancholia (2011). This year, Saoirse Ronan tops the list thanks to two great performances: On Chesil Beach and an iconic acting turn in Lad...

Cinema and Popcorn

Search This Blog