Sep 8, 20233 min read

80th Venice Film Festival

Cailee Spaeney stars in "Priscilla" here adorned by High Jewellery Bulgari: Priscilla’s Cailee Spaeny took home the Best Actress award and thanked her muse, Priscilla Presley in her speech.

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Despite an industry-wide strike that’s made the promotion of films feel impossible, the Venice Film Festival has given a chance for some stars of independent features to shine a light on their upcoming projects — with a few of those artists taking home prizes from the fest. The 80th Venice International Film Festival awards gala on Saturday evening celebrated the films competing for various categories, including the Golden and Silver Lion, voted on by the jury, which includes directors Jane Campion and Martin McDonagh.

Taking home the grand prize of the Golden Lion was The Favorite’s Yorgos Lanthimos for his follow-up film, Poor Things, starring Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe, and Ramy Youssef. In his acceptance speech, Lanthimos called Stone an “incredible creature” and praised her performance as Bella in the film. “This film is her both in front of and behind the camera,” he concluded.

Priscilla’s Cailee Spaeny took home the Best Actress award and thanked her muse, Priscilla Presley in her speech. For Best Actor, winner Peter Sarsgaard for Memory spoke about the union strikes and how A.I. jeopardizes the industry. “It’s hard to prioritize it because it does seem like the stuff of science fiction,” he said in his speech. “We can all agree that an actor is a person and a writer is a person but it seems that we can’t. And that’s terrifying because this work we do is about connection.” Sarsgaard wasn’t the only winner to discuss the on-going Hollywood strikes, Pablo Larraín also brought it up in his speech for Best Screenplay for El Conde with Guillermo Calderón. He said, “I hope through collaboration that the studios will come to an understanding. We need dignity, respect, understanding, and compassion for writers all over the world.”