The 13. Queer Lion Award – collateral award of the 76th Venice International Film Festival, ideated in 2007 by Daniel N. Casagrande – has been awarded to El Príncipe (The Prince) by Sebastián Muñoz (Chile, Argentina, Belgium), presented in the 34. Venice International Film Critics Week.
Motivation:
El Príncipe is a passionate portrait of life in a Chilean prison on the eve of Allende’s rise to power in 1970. The savage brutality of prison life is contrasted by intensely emotional relationships between prisoners. Led by a towering Alfredo Castro, the excellent ensemble cast give stirring performances of a powerful script which conveys the paradoxical acceptance of gay attachments in prison at a time when it was not socially acceptable. Sebastián Muñoz’s directorial debut is a bold and erotically charged exploration of recent history which reveals an unexpected tenderness at its heart
The jury – composed by Brian Robinson (United Kingdom – British Film Institute), Giacomo S. Pistolato (Italy – National Union of Italian Film Critics), Federico Boni (Italy – novelist, journalist, critic), chose the winner among the following 9 titles:
El Príncipe by Sebastián Muñoz (Chile, Argentina, Belgium)
Rialto by Peter Mackie Burns (UK, Ireland)
House of Cardin by Fr. David Ebersole, Todd Hughes (USA, France)
Bombay Rose by Gitanjali Rao (UK, India, France, Qatar)
Moffie by Oliver Hermanus (South Africa, UK)
Barn by Dag Johan Haugerud (Norway, Sweden)
Lingua Franca by Isabel Sandoval (Usa, Philippines)
Psykosia by Marie Grahtø (Denmark, Finland)
Ema by Pablo Larraín (Chile)
The Queer Lion Award – under the patronage, in this edition, of two of the most prestigious and historic Venetian cultural institutions, the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and the Iuav University of Venice – will be presented to director Sebastián Muñoz, on Friday September 6th, at 6.00 pm, at the Sala Tropicana in the Italian Pavilion of Hotel Excelsior (Lungomare Marconi 41, Lido di Venezia).
