Sokurov’s Francofonia wins European critics’ prize at Venice

Russian director Alexander Sokurov’s film Francofonia has been named best European film at this year’s Venice Film Festival by the Federation of Film Critics of Europe and the Mediterranean (FEDEORA).

“Francofonia is a complex film, which explores the theme of European culture in a surprising, sometimes controversial, but always poetic way,” FEDEORA said in a statement.

FEDEORA’s prize is the first to be awarded at this year’s Venice Film Festival. Francofonia has also been selected for the main competition programme and will compete for the “Golden Lion”, the highest prize awarded at the festival.

In Francofonia, Sokurov, who is best known for Russian Ark and Faust, deals with the preservation of works of art in the Louvre in German-occupied Paris in 1940. Sokurov infuses the narrative with reflections on the place of art throughout centuries of history, and combines narrative drama with elements of documentary cinema.