65th Locarno Film Festival Award Winners

This year I followed the fest with their mobile apps as well as with the social sites plus the official site; even do they implemented an extensive internet strategy, I believe that they somehow forgot about making more accessible the fest info as the only way you could see the competition and other sections list was with an arid .pdf file. Hope next year they come back to a more user friendly format with info available in a more traditional way. Sigh.

Today the fest had their awards ceremony and here are the winners that you can check at the official site here.

International Competition

Golden Leopard for Best Film: La Fille de Nulle Part (The Woman from Nowhere), Jean-Claude Brisseau, France

Special Jury Prize: Somebody Up There Likes Me, Bob Byington, USA
Silver Leopard for Best Director: Ying Lian for Wo Hai You Hua Shuo (When Night Falls), South Korea and China
Silver Leopard for Best Actress: An Nai in Wo Hai You Hu Shuo (When Night Falls), Ying Liang, South Korea and China
Silver Leopardfor Best Actor: Walter Saavel in Der Glanz des Tages (The Shine of Day), Rainer Frimmel and Tizza Covi, Austria

Special Mention: To the extraordinary character CANDY from the film A Última Vez Que Vi Macau (The Last Time I Saw Macao), João Pedro Rodrigues and João Rui Guerra da Mata, Portugal and France due to her powerful presence through absence which resonated for the Jury as representing the immense courage of Portuguese cinema in times when the failures of government and social systems threaten the cinematic arts worldwide.

Cineasti del Presente (First or second film)

Golden Leopard: 祈 Inori, Pedro González-Rubio, Japan
Best Director: Joel Potrykus for Ape, USA
Special Jury Prize: Not In Tel Aviv, Nony Geffen, Israel
Special Mention: Tectonics, Peter Bo Rappmund, USA

Opera Prima

Best First Feature: Ji Yi Wang Zhe Wo (Memories Look At Me), Song Fang, China
Special Mention: Ape by Joel Potrykus, USA

Other Awards
Audience Award: Lore, Cate Shortland, Germany, Australia and UK
Variety Piazza Grande Award: Camille Redouble, Noémie Lvovsky, France

Independent Juries Awards

FIPRESCI Prize: Leviathan, Véréna Paravel and Lucien Castaing-Taylor, UK, France and USA
CICAE: Museum Hours, Jem Cohen, Austria and USA

FICC/IFFS Prize: Der Glanz des Tages (The Shine of Day), Rainer Frimmel and Tizza Covi, Austria
Special Mention: Leviathan, Véréna Paravel and Lucien Castaing-Taylor, UK, France and USA

Ecumenical Prize: Une Estonienne à Paris (A Lady In Paris), Ilmar Raag, France, Estonia and Belgium
Special Mention: Der Glanz des Tages (The Shine of Day), Rainer Frimmel and Tizza Covi, Austria

Junior Jury Awards
First Prize: Startlet, Sean Baker, USA
Second Prize: Mobile Home, François Pirot, Belgium and Luxembourg
Third Prize: Compliance, Craig Zobel, USA
Environment is Quality of Life Prize: The End of Time, Peter Mettler, Switzerland and Canada
Special Mentions
Image Problem, Simon Baumann and Andreas Pfiffner, Switzerland
Berberian Sound Studio, Peter Strickland, UK, Germany and Australia

Cinema & Gioventù Jury Prize - Concorso Cineasti del presente: Boa Sorte, Meu Amor (Good Luck, Sweetheart), Daniel Aragao, Brazil

Semaine de la Critique: Vergis Mein Nicht, Davic Sieveking, Germany
Premio Zonta Club Locarno: Dance of Outlaws, Mohamed El Baoudi, Finland and Norway

Pardi di Domani (Short Films)

International Competition
Golden Pardino -Best Short Film: The Mass of Men, Gabriel Gauchet, UK
Silver Pardino: Yaderni Wydhody (Nuclear Waste), Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy, Ukraine
Special Mention: Los Retratos (Portraits), Iván D. Gaona, Colombia
Locarno short film nominee for the European Film Awards: Back of Beyond, Michael Lennox, UK
The Film und Video Untertitelung Prize: O Que Arde Cura (As Flames Rose), João Rui Guerra da Mata, Portugal

National Competition
Golden Pardino - Best Swiss Short Film:  Radio-Actif (Radio-Active), Nathan Hofstetter, Switzerland
Silver Pardino: L'Amour Begue (Stammering Love), Jan Czarlewski, Switzerland
Premio Action Light for Best Swiss Newcomer: Il Vulcano (The Volcano), Alice Riva, Switzerland

Cinema & Gioventù Jury Prize - Pardi di domani
Best International Short Film: Back of Beyond, Michael Lennox, UK
Special Mention: Serce Do Walki, Tomek Matuszczak, Poland
Best Swiss Short Film: L'Amour Begue, Jan Czarlewski, Switzerland

To read all awards you have to download a .pdf file with the official selection plus the Independent Juries awards.

I'm a bit surprised with the top award as unless film is absolutely different to his previous films it's impossible for me to imagine how Jean-Claude Brisseau could win the top award at any festival. But there are a few interesting movies like Song Fang's Memories Look at Me produced by Jia Zhangke, the audience winner with a puzzling story that calls my attention, and Inori that I read a few days back that is produced by none other than Naomi Kawase with Mexican Pedro González-Rubio directing.