This year’s Venice Film Festival was one for the books, and it brought countless amazing movies our way. Yorgos Lanthimos gave us one of the festival’s most talked-about new films with Poor Things, and this acclaimed black comedy eventually won the Golden Lion trophy.
Poor Things offers a feminist take on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and it centers on a young Victorian woman Bella (Emma Stone) trying to forge her own path after being brought back to life by a mysterious scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe). The film also stars Mark Ruffalo, Ramy Youssef, Christopher Abbott, Jerrod Carmichael, and Margaret Qualley.
Poor Things was met with rave reviews after its world premiere in Venice, and it defeated the likes of Michael Mann’s Ferrari, David Fincher’s The Killer, and Sofia Copolla’s Priscilla to win the festival’s most prestigious award—the Golden Lion. Lanthimos dedicated the victory to Stone and said this film is all her, both front and behind the camera.
When it comes to acting accolades, Memory’s Peter Sarsgaard and Priscilla’s star Cailee Spaeny collected the Volpi Cup for their respective performances. The list of major winners also included Evil Does Not Exist (Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize), Green Border (Special Jury Prize), and Io Capitano (Silver Lion Best Director for Matteo Garrone).
FULL LIST OF WINNERS AT THE 2023 VENICE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL:
Golden Lion
Poor Things, Yorgos Lanthimos
Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize
Evil Does Not Exist, Ryusuke Hamaguchi
Silver Lion Best Director
Matteo Garrone, Io Capitano
Special Jury Prize
Green Border, Agnieszka Holland
Best Screenplay
Pablo Larrain and Guillermo Calderón, El Conde
Best Actress
Cailee Spaeny, Priscilla
Best Actor
Peter Sarsgaard, Memory
Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best New Young Actor or Actress
Seydou Sarr, Io Capitano
HORIZONS
Best Film
Explanation For Everything, Gábor Reisz
Best Director
Mika Gustafson, Paradise Is Burning
Special Jury Prize
Una Sterminata Domenica, Alain Parroni
Best Actress
Margarita Rosa De Francisco, El Paraiso
Best Actor
Tergel Bold-Erdene, City of Wind
Best Screenplay
El Paraiso, Enrico Maria Artale
Best Short Film
A Short Trip, Erenik Beqiri
Lion of the Future – Luigi De Laurentiis Award for a Debut Film
Love Is A Gun, Lee Hong-Chi
HORIZONS EXTRA
Audience Award
FELICITÀ (HAPPINESS), Micaela Ramazzotti
VENICE CLASSICS
Best Documentary
Thank You Very Much, Alex Braverman
Best Restored Film
OHIKKOSHI (MOVING), Shinji Somai
VENICE IMMERSIVE
Grand Jury Prize
Songs For A Passerby, Celine Daemen
Special Jury Prize
Flow, Adriaan Lokman
Immersive Achievement Prize
Emperor, Marion Burger, Ilan Cohen
