(ANSA) – ROME, AUGUST 17 – Akiplesa (Toxic) by director Saule Bliuvaite (Lithuania), the story of two thirteen-year-olds Marija and Kristina who find themselves in a local modeling school where girls, in search of a better life, increasingly put their bodies at risk, won the Golden Leopard – Grand Prix of the Festival and the City of Locarno, the Swatch First Feature Award (Award for best first work) and the Ecumenical Award of the 77th edition of the Locarno Film Festival (7 – 17 August) which closes with a list of winners in which women are largely the protagonists, both in front of and behind the camera. The Special Jury Prize – Municipalities of Ascona and Losone goes to the Austrian Mond (Moon) by Kurdwin Ayub, which revolves around the choice of Sarah, a former martial arts professional, who leaves Austria to train three sisters, cut off from the world and constantly monitored, belonging to a rich family in Jordan. The jury chaired by director Jessica Hausner, and composed of producer Diana Elbaum, filmmaker Payal Kapadia, Luca Marinelli and Tim Blake Nelson also awarded the Leopard for Best Direction – City and Region of Locarno to Laurynas Bareisa for the Lithuanian/Latvian Seses (Drowning Dry), about two sisters who find themselves single mothers after an accident. The film also won one of the two Leopards for Best Performance, for Gelmine Glemzaite, Agne Kaktaite, Giedrius Kiela and Paulius Markevicius. The other is won by Kim Minhee for the South Korean Suyoocheon (By The Stream) by Hong Sangsoo. In the film the actress is Jeonim, a young professor who takes her uncle back to an experience she had in her university 40 years earlier. Two special mentions were also awarded, to Qing Chun – Ku (Youth – Hard Times), by Wang Bing, the second chapter (the third will be in competition in Venice) of the documentary journey by the Chinese filmmaker into the lives of some young workers in the textile industry and to Salve Maria by Mar Coll, the story of a young writer who has recently become a mother, whose certainties are shaken by the news of a terrible infanticide. Among other awards, the Golden Leopard – Filmmakers of the Present Competition goes to Holy Electricity by Georgian Tato Kotetishvili while the Award for Best Emerging Director – City and Region of Locarno was assigned to Denise Fernandes for Hanami, (Switzerland/Portugal/Cape Verde). (ANSA).
2024-08-18 06:01:35