Greek director Jacquelline Lentzou has won the Best Director award at the Venice Film Festival 2026 for her film "A Day ...

Greek director Jacquelline Lentzou has won the Best Director award at the Venice Film Festival 2026 for her film "A Day in the Life of Jo: Chapter Phaedra," competing in the Orizzonti section. The film had its world premiere at Venice just days before the award was announced, drawing immediate critical attention from major international outlets. Screen Daily called it "bold in form and full of compassion," describing it as "a strange, daring film that, through a death, celebrates a life." Cineuropa's David Katz called it "a beautifully rendered journey into the world of spirits" and singled it out as one of the most formally complete films premiering in this year's Orizzonti competition. The International Cinephile Society went further, calling it "a lucid and deeply moving ode to life and death" and describing it as "almost a masterpiece," placing it among the great coming-of-age films. Lead actress Evita Andriopoulou received praise across multiple reviews, with critics calling her performance "raw, authentic, and deeply familiar." The day before the official award ceremony, the film also picked up the independent Edipo Re 2026 Inclusion and Sustainability Prize. The jury said the film "touched everything we were looking for," describing it as "political without being didactic, tragic without becoming melodramatic, and comic without becoming rhetorical." This is only Lentzou's second feature film. The script had previously been selected for the TorinoFilmLab FeatureLab 2024, where it won the ARRI Award for Cinematic Vision, and later participated in Cannes Next Step in 2024. The film will next have its North American premiere at the 64th New York Film Festival, followed by appearances at the BFI London Film Festival, the Busan International Film Festival, and the Viennale. International sales are handled by Lucky Number. #VeniceFilmFestival #GreekCinema #JacquellineLentzou