Greek filmmaker Jacqueline Lentzou won the Orizzonti Award for Best Director at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival for her second feature film, A Day in the Life of Jo: Chapter Phaedra.
Orizzonti is one of the Venice Film Festival’s main competitive sections and is dedicated to new cinematic trends and different forms of storytelling.
The Lentzou film is inspired by the killing of Alexis Grigoropoulos by a Greek police officer on December 6, 2008. The shooting of the 15-year-old boy ignited a series of riots in Athens and other cities, while riots and clashes with the police take place every year on the particular date.
The Greek filmmaker received one of the major distinctions of the Orizzonti competition with her second feature film, which had its world premiere in Venice. The film is in Greek, runs for 88 minutes and is a co-production between Greece, Germany and France.
The award carries particular significance for Greek cinema, recognizing the directorial vision of a filmmaker with an established international presence in a story that brings together adolescence, memory, loss and sudden death with one of the events that marked contemporary Greece.
The Orizzonti jury was chaired by French filmmaker and actress Valérie Donzelli, alongside Peter Becker, Elizabeth Lo, David Pablos and Barbara Ronchi.
While accepting the award, Lentzou spoke about the difficulties of independent filmmaking and the creative risk involved in the project, closing her speech with the words “Stop killing children.”
A talented filmmaker
Jacqueline Lentzou was born in Athens and grew up between Athens and Thessaloniki. She graduated from London Film School and has been walking down the path of international recognition for quite some time, as her numerous awards, her presence at the most prestigious festivals, as well as the honorary invitations show.
The London Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) showcased a retrospective on the Greek director’s work, whereas in the same year she had the chance to travel to New York as an Onassis Foundation Fellow. Tributes to her filmography have been hosted in Austria, Portugal, Belgium and Canada, while her films have been screened at the leading world cinema platforms, such as Mubi, Le Cinéma Club, E-Flux. She has taken part both at the Sundance Screenwriters’ Lab and the Torino Film Lab, having also served as jury member in many distinguished film festivals.
The Greek filmmaker’s award winning feature is her second after Moon: 66 Questions released in 2021. It is the story of a woman who returns to Athens due to her father’s ill health where she learns a secret that will help her understand him better. She has also made 10 short films since her debut in 2011.
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