For having been able to rewrite, with brilliant visual insight, the hybridizations of the body, characteristic of the genre, with a substance that evolves from a passive tool into intelligence, capable of intertwining with flesh and thought. For having forcefully cut into our present and skillfully inserted itself into a liminal genre, between dystopian science fiction and body horror, without relying on a large production but thanks to a precise use of makeup and costumes, combined with visceral and engaging acting, we award the Best Film Prize of the Extra Sci-Fi Festival Verona to ELSE, by Thibault Emin.

From the very start, Jérémie Périn’s Mars Express does not conceal its ambition. While the visual references to the sci-fi imaginary are striking (Terminator, Ghost in the Shell up to Blade Runner), the focus on the highly current theme of artificial intelligence, combined with broader topics such as social control, the right to one’s own subjectivity and the complex relationship between man and technology make this film more contemporary than ever. The combination of the refined anime aesthetic with an excellent European sci-fi animation, holds its own against the great films of René Laloux. With a narrative that follows in the footsteps of of European pulp comics and Hollywood neo-noir, Mars express is our clear winner of the third edition of the Extra sci-fi festival Verona.