“Miss Violence,” a contemporary Greek drama, walked away from the Venice Film Festival on Saturday night with the Silver Lion for director Alexandros Avranas, awarded by an international jury headed by acclaimed Italian filmmaker Bernardo Bertolucci.

“Miss Violence” lead actor Themis Panou also took home the Best Actor award, making the Greek entry the only movie to win two top prizes at the esteemed event, which was also granted accolades by the FEDEORA jury of European and Mediterranean film critics and by the jury for the Young Cinema Award.

Praised by Variety as an “airless but accomplished sophomore feature,” Miss Violence” opens with a girl plunging to her death from a balcony during her birthday party. The ensuing investigation into the incident peels away at the family dynamic, revealing layers of violence and dysfunction.

Thirty-six-year-old Avranas is the second Greek director to be awarded such a prestigious prize at Venice, after Theo Angelopoulos took the Golden Lion in 1980 for “Alexander the Great.”

The Golden Lion at this year’s event went to the Italian documentary “Sacro GRA” by Gianfranco Rosi.

Source: ekathimerini