Agnieszka Holland succeeded in Venice. She received an award for a film about refugees

Holland did not comment on the incident on Saturday in Venice. She thanked, among others, the producers, including Šárka Cimbalová from Marlene Film Production. And she recalled that since the beginning of the refugee crisis at the turn of 2014 and 2015, tens of thousands of people have gotten into trouble. “They are hiding in the forests, they are deprived of their dignity and basic human rights. Now the situation is repeating itself. And we are not helping them, not because we do not have the means to do so, but because we have decided not to help them,” said Holland.

She dedicated the award to all local activists assisting migrants. The film Hranice tells the story of one such psychologist, played by Maja Ostaszewska. In addition, it describes the situation of refugees from crisis areas who tried to get from Belarus to the European Union the year before and were stuck in “no man’s land”, in temporary camps where they did not receive humanitarian or medical help.

“It might seem to some that the subject of the film is very far from the Czech Republic, but as the crow flies, it is just over 400 kilometers from our borders,” pointed out producer Cimbalová. The film was edited by Pavel Hrdlička, Milan Šteindler played an episodic role in it, and it was co-produced by Czech Television. Local cinemas will release it already on October 19.

The film drew sharp criticism from Poland’s ruling national conservatives, with Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro this week comparing it to Nazi propaganda. Holland, who was defended by many personalities of Polish culture, called on Ziobra to apologize, otherwise she wants to defend herself through legal means. “I cannot be indifferent to such an open and brutal attack,” Gazeta Wyborcza quoted her as saying on Thursday.

Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos takes home the Golden Lion for the best film from Saturday’s ceremony at the Venice festival. He succeeded with the romantic sci-fi Poor Man, starring Emma Stone, Margaret Qualley and Willem Dafoe. It tells the story of a young woman who is brought back to life by an unorthodox scientist after committing suicide and who then experiences a sexual awakening in a kind of surreal version of 19th century Europe. “The central character of the film is Bella Baxter. And this wonderful being would never have been created if it were not for another wonderful being Emma Stone,” the director thanked the representative of the main role. Czech cinemas will start screening the new film in January 2024.

The second main Silver Lion statuette was taken by Japanese director Ryusuke Hamaguchi for the rural drama Evil Does Not Exist. The award for directing goes to Rome-born Matteo Garrone, author of the drama Io capitano about the adventurous journey of two young men from Senegal’s Dakar to Europe. One of them was portrayed by Seydou Sarr, who earned him the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor.

The award for best actress went to 25-year-old American Cailee Spaeny, who portrayed Priscilla Presley, the former wife of Elvis Presley, in the film Priscilla. Sofia Coppola filmed the story of a girl who met the rock and roll singer at the age of fourteen and later endured hardships and loneliness at his Graceland mansion before breaking up with him. “Priscilla entrusted me with a really complex, subtle and personal experience. I would like to thank her from the bottom of my heart,” said the actress on stage.

The best male performance went to 52-year-old American Peter Sarsgaard in the film Memory, directed by Michel Franco from Mexico. In this melodrama about overcoming trauma, Sarsgaard portrayed a broken man suffering from partial dementia who reaches out to a social worker and former alcoholic played by Jessica Chastain after a high school reunion. Gradually, a love relationship begins to develop between them. “In this film, I play a person suffering from dementia. My uncle, who kept bees and suffered from the same diagnosis, died during the pandemic. I would like to dedicate the award to him,” Sarsgaard said on stage.

The screenplay award went to Pablo Larraín and Guillermo Calderón, the Chilean authors of the black comedy The Count about the dictator Augusto Pinochet. This is not a traditional portrait, in a highly stylized image they portrayed him as a 250-year-old vampire. The film will be available on the Netflix platform on September 15.

In the secondary Orizzonti section, the jury awarded the Hungarian director Gábor Reisz’s film Explanation For Everything, which was co-produced in Slovakia. When accepting the award, the author asked the audience to continue supporting Hungarian cinema.

The statuette for directing in the Orizzonti category goes to Swedish native Mika Gustafson for Paradise is Burning. It tells the story of three young sisters who are trying to survive without their mother. “I wanted to try something completely different and push the boundaries. I believe that as filmmakers we have not yet told all the stories and shown all the images. This award gives me hope,” said Mika Gustafson.

Already on Friday at the Venice Film Festival, the minor award for the best European film of the Europa Cinemas cinema network was given to the documentary Světloplachost by Slovak filmmakers Ivan Ostrochovský and Pavol Pekarčík.

The creation of this film about life underground in the bombed Ukrainian Kharkov was also supported by the Czech State Cinematography Fund. The documentary follows the story of twelve-year-old Niki, who hides with his family from the Russian bombing in the Kharkiv metro station. Slovak filmmakers went there with humanitarian aid just a few weeks after the start of the Russian invasion last year.

This year’s Venice festival was marked by a strike by Hollywood actors and screenwriters, due to which many stars from the USA did not arrive. The jury was chaired by American director Damien Chazelle.

Video: Young men want to shoot themselves, Holland says