The Brian Award’s jury has conferred the prize to Paolo Sorrenino’s film, La Grazia, screened at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival. This present edition marks the 20th edition of the Brian Award, promoted by the Union of Rationalist Atheists and Agnostics (UAAR).
The film prized by the UAAR covers, from both an institutional and a political perspective, the ever-present and dramatically pressing issue of the legalization of euthanasia, which in the Italian context, is marked by an obstruction attributable to religious interference. Within the film, Sorrentino portrays the complexity of euthanasia via the eyes of the film’s protagonist: a President of the Republic nearing the end of his term and hesitating on whether to sign a law which would guarantee citizens the right to a dignified death, whilst, at the same time yet with equal anguish, weighing two requests for pardon.
La Grazia wins the 2025 Brian Award not solely for its symbolic power, but also and not less importantly for the emotional depth and civic clarity with which it brings back within the public debate a theme of extraordinary social and ethical importance.
The jury also decided to grant three special mentions to the following feature films:
- Bearcave by Stergios Dinopoulos and Krysianna Papadakis
- 100 Nights of Hero by Julia Jackman
- À bras-le-corps by Marie-Elsa Sgualdo
The video of the award ceremony
The jury: Paolo Ferrarini (President), Emanuele Albera, Glauco Almonte, Enrica Berselli, Francesco Crifò, Maria Teresa Crisigiovanni, Marina Fornasari, Micaela Grosso, Giuseppe Indelicato, Carmelo Lucchesi, Irene Tartaglia.
The Award
The “Brian Award,” named after the satirical film titled Monty Python’s Life of Brian, is presented «to the film that best promotes a secular vision of the world and that, faithful to the UAAR’s vision and social purposes, is capable of highlighting the values that are associated with secularism—such as rationality and scientific thought, democracy, pluralism, self-determination, freedom of conscience, expression and research, the principle of equal opportunity in public institutions for all citizens devoid of discrimination on the basis of sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, or philosophical and religious beliefs—as well as values that find themselves in diametrical opposition to theocracies and confessional-based fundamentalisms.»
Press release