Singaporean Thriller Beats Its Competitors At Locarno Festival
Though the 71st Locarno Film Festival ended a couple of weeks ago, we're still reflecting on competition and awards being proud of witnessing and voting for one of the winners. Blackkklansman directed by a notorious Spike Lee shown at Piazza Grande under the stormy skies and a pouring rain has been justly awarded the Prix du Public UBS.
However, it was just one of 293 films shown at the festival in less than two weeks. 18 of them waited for the wide audience under the sky of Piazza Grande and 15 were put on the jury's display in the Concorso internazionale. Among this year's star guests were the unforgettable greetings from Ethan Hawke and Ted Hope in Piazza Grande, the conversations with Meg Ryan, Bruno Dumont and the masterclass of Kyle Cooper; the remembrance by Paolo Taviani of his brother Vittorio and the congeniality of Diego Abantatuono and Sandra Milo.
As usual, the spotlight of the festival was the major award - Pardo d'oro (Golden Leopard). This year the jury gave their preference to A Land Imagined by Yeo Siew Hua. It is a contemporary noir about a Singapore police detective on the trail of a missing Chinese construction worker.
Meanwhile Pardo for Best Director was awarded to Chile's Dominga Sotomayor for her competition entry Tarde Para Morir Joven (Too Late To Die Young), a post-Pinochet coming-of-age story inspired by her own youth. Another female filmmaker Yolande Zauberman was honoured by a Special Jury Prize for M, a Yiddish-language exploration of Bnei Brak, the Israeli city regarded as the hub of Ultra-Orthodox Judaism.
Andra Guti took Pardo for Best Actress in Romanian Alice T for a role of a teenage pathological liar and Ki Joobong - Pardo for Best Actor in Gangbyun Hotel (Hotel by the River).
Click here for the list of all awards.
According to Carlo Chatrian, Artistic Director of the Festival who after six years decided to leave Locarno and continue his career at Berlinale next year, "Held in extremely high temperatures, Locarno71 was a rich and diversified edition, just as it is in the tradition of a festival which is not afraid to approach extremes and to combine a smile with reflection... With 12 award-winning women - among two Swiss directors - out of 25 awards, the 71st edition confirmed that Locarno is a festival where one plans the future".
It is already confirmed that Lili Hinstin is to be a new Artistic Director of Locarno Festival, which will take place on August 7-17 next year.
Source: www.locarnofestival.ch
