2024-08-17 16:45:25
Not only the Golden Leopard, the first prize of the Locarno Festival, celebrates the power of women. The jury sets an example for strengthening women’s perspectives with several awards.
Locarno.
Women are winners of the Locarno Film Festival. The first prize, the Golden Leopard, went to the Lithuanian feature film “Akilääsa” (“Poison”) by Saulė Bliuvaitė. Almost all of the festival’s major honors are given to films by female directors with different women as central characters.
That’s what the winning film is about
The winning film is a study of the daily lives of two teenagers on the threshold of adulthood. Your life is very much shaped by the pressure of fatal designs of beauty. “Poison” is the feature film debut of 30-year-old Lithuanian director Bliuvaitė. His gift also supports Locarno’s traditional goal of promoting youth, as yet unknown talent.
The second most important prize of the ceremony, the Special Jury Prize, also went to a young director: Kurdwin Ayub, born in Iraq in 1990 and living in Austria, for his feature film “Mond”. His focus is also on young women, an Austrian martial artist and four daughters of a wealthy Jordanian family who are tutored by a Viennese woman. The drama, which deals with crime suspense, deals with various socially constructed images of women.
The Leopard for the best director went to director Laurynas Bareiša, born in 1988 – as Saulė Bliuvaitė, winner of the Golden Leopard, from Lithuania. In his feature film “Seses” (“Dry Drowning”), made by Lithuanian and Latvian assistants, he shows the development of two young mothers who free themselves from the rule of men.
Jury made a statement for the woman’s self-confidence
All these awards can be interpreted as a statement by the jury, led by the Austrian director Jessica Hausner (“Lourdes”), for strengthening female self-confidence. This is logical, because the lives of women in today’s world are the main topic in the “Concorso internazionale”, the main competition.
In addition, eight women were involved in the director’s chair of the 17 films from all over the world shown there, which means that almost half of all competition entries have a female signature. The vote of the jury is therefore the only justification.
On the other hand, the gender-neutral awards for best play are amazing. A leopard for the best performance goes to the leading quarter of “Seses”, Gelminė Glemžaitė, Agnė Kaktaitė, Giedrius Kiela and Paulius Markevičius. The second prize went to South Korea’s Kim Minhee. He played the main role, a singer and a university teacher, in “Am Bach”, performed by his colleague Hong Sangsoo, who is popular in festivals around the world.
The Germans came away empty-handed in the first match
There is a lot of excellence to be considered, especially when it comes to acting. German actress Maren Eggert is considered a favorite for her portrayal of a woman at a turning point in her life in the chamber play “The Sparrow in the Chimney” (Switzerland).
The 16-year-old German Helena Zengel (“System Sprenger”) in the adventure film “Transamazonia” is also a sensation. The multinational Laura Weissmahr, who came from Catalonia as a tired young mother in the Spanish psychodrama “Salve Maria”, also deserves an honor.
The hopes of German filmmakers for one of the major prizes in the first competition have not been fulfilled. But they didn’t come out completely empty-handed. In the test competition “Pardi di domani” (“Leopards of Tomorrow”), a Silver Leopard went to the short film “Gimn chume” (“Hymn to the Plague”) by the Russian artist group “Atak51” working in Paris, funded -money. by German and Russian producers. In just 12 minutes, they celebrated music as an effective political art.
German director Willy Hans received an honorable mention for his feature film “Der Fleck” (Germany/Switzerland), which was shown at the young talent competition “Cineasti del presente” (“Filmmakers of the Present”). The honor takes place as part of the “The Green Leopard” campaign, which takes into account all competitions and sectors. The festival aims to raise environmental awareness. The full length film depicts very poetically the coexistence of man and nature.
A matter of socially critical thinking
The festival is characterized by a series of socially important films and resulting political discussions, such as examining questions about climate protection. But they are not forgotten either. Every evening about eight thousand enthusiastic spectators sit in open-air galas with films outside all competitions on Locarno’s Piazza Grande. And they cheered on celebrities who won awards, especially Indian superstar Shah Rukh Khan.
The most important European film festival next to Cannes, Berlin and Venice presents 225 shorts, feature films, documentaries and experimental films in eleven days. The 77th edition reaffirms Locarno’s reputation as the most important platform for discovering unknown talents and top films. The overwhelming response from thousands of film fans from all over the world shows that the film industry, which is often said to be dead, is very much alive and in demand among the audience. (dpa)
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