Locarno 2020 hands out its Leopard awards virtually
- Lucrecia Martel and Marí Alessandrini, two directors whose gazes wander from Switzerland to Argentina, have won the two Leopard awards in the main section The Films After Tomorrow
The 2020 edition of the Locarno Film Festival concluded at the GranRex, with a screening of La France contre les robots from established French director Jean-Marie Straub followed by Lockdown Collection, a series of Swiss short films emblematic of today. This decidedly (and inevitably) atypical edition had to replace the Piazza Grande with the web. 320,000 virtual visitors from all over the world enjoyed 80,000 views of original content and films offered during this edition, which took place from 5 to 15 August. Meanwhile, 103 live projections on the three main screens of Locarno attracted a total of 6,000 spectators.
The main section of this unique edition was The Films After Tomorrow, in which competed ten international and ten Swiss films, all interrupted by the health crisis of Covid-19. Composed of Israeli writer-director Nadav Lapid, director and artist Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese from Lesotho, and independent screenwriter and director Kelly Reichardt — whose last film First Cow opened this 2020 edition — the international jury of The Films After Tomorrow decided to place on the highest step of the podium Argentine director Lucrecia Martel.
Like all the films selected in the section, Chocobar (a co-production between Argentina, the United States, Denmark and Mexico), the director’s first work of nonfiction and one she describes as “a hybrid and creative documentary”, was forced to reckon with a sudden interruption in a crucial phase of its production, which began after ten years of research. Chocobar is a political documentary focused on indigenous culture, starting from the killing of militant Javier Chocobar in 2009.
On the Swiss side of the competition, Argentine-born, Switzerland-based director Marí Alessandrini (she studied at Geneva’s HEAD) wins the second 2020 Leopard with her film Zahorí [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Marí Alessandrini
film profile]. Produced by Switzerland, together with Argentina and France, Zahorí is a coming-of-age film inspired by the director’s childhood. Set in the steppes of Patagonia, the film tells the story of a friendship between a thirteen-year-old from Ticino and an elderly Mapuche indian. The prizes of CHF 70,000 (for each of the two films) will go towards completing two films that are certainly more than deserving to land on screens all over the world.
Within the international selection of The Films After Tomorrow, two other films won two important awards, worth CHF 50,000 and CHF 30,000 respectively: Savagery (Portugal/France/Brazil/China/Greece) from important Portuguese director Miguel Gomes, freely adapted from Euclides da Cunha’s novel Rebellion in the Backlands, focused on the military expedition of the Brazilian Republic at the end of the nineteenth century against a small settlement of native inhabitants of Canudos (Campari Award – Special Jury Prize), and The Fabric of the Human Body (France/United States) from directors and anthropologists Verena Paravel and Lucien Castaing-Taylor, which centres on five hospitals in the northern neighbourhoods of Paris to address sensitive issues of bioethics related to new technologies in the medical field (Swatch Award – award for the most innovative project).
Among the projects of the Swiss selection is also LUX [+see also:
film review
film profile], a documentary on the Swiss army by young directors Raphaël Dubach and Mateo Ybarra, winner of the SRG SSR Award, a promotional campaign on television worth CHF 100,000 for a Swiss project, which guarantees advertising on national networks on the occasion of the film’s release in cinemas in Switzerland.
The full list of winner:
The Films After Tomorrow
International Selection
Leopard 2020, for the production of the film, to the best international project
Chocobar - Lucrecia Martel (Argentina/USA/Denmark/Mexico)
Production: Rei Cine (Benjamin Domenech), Louverture Films, Lemming Film
Campari Award, special jury prize
Savagery - Miguel Gomes (Portugal/France/Brazil/China/Greece)
Production: O Som e a Fúria (Luís Urbano), Shellac Sud, RT Features, Rediance Films, Faliro House
Swatch Award, for the most innovative project
The Fabric of the Human Body - Verena Paravel and Lucien Castaing-Taylor (Francia/Stati Uniti)
Production: Norte Productions (Valentina Novati), Sensory Ethnography Lab (Verena Paravel, Lucien Castaing-Taylor)
Swiss Selection
Leopard 2020, for the production of the film, to the best Swiss project
Zahorí [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Marí Alessandrini
film profile] - Marí Alessandrini (Switzerland/Argentina/Chile/France)
Production: Le Laboratoire Central (Nadejda Magnenat), El Calefón Cine (Juan Carlos Maristany), Cinestación (Dominga Sotomayor), Norte Productions (Valentina Novati)
SRG SSR Award
LUX [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Raphaël Dubach and Mateo Ybarra (Switzerland)
Production: Jeunes Sauvages (Raphaël Dubach, Mateo Ybarra)
Pardi di domani
International Competition
Golden Pardino SRG SSR for Best International Short Film
I Ran from It and Was Still in It - Darol Olu Kae (USA)
SRG SSR Silver Pardino for the International Competition
History of Civilization - Zhannat Alshanova (Kazakhstan)
Medien Patent Verwaltung AG Award
A Trip to Heaven - Linh Duong, (Vietnam/Singapore)
Special Mention
Life on the Horn - Mo Harawe (Somalia/Austria/Germany)
National Competition
Swiss Life Golden Pardino for the National Competition
People on Saturday - Jonas Ulrich (Switzerland)
(Locarno Short Film Candidate for the European Film Awards)
Swiss Life Silver Pardino for the National Competition
Black Hole - Tristan Aymon (Swtizerland)
Best Swiss Newcomer Prize, consisting of equipment and services offered by Cinegrell, Freestudios and Taurus Studio
Salmon Men - Veronica L. Montaño, Manuela Leuenberger and Joel Hofmann (Switzerland)
Awards of the Cinema&Gioventù Jury
The Films After Tomorrow
Cinema&Gioventù – Prize for best international project
Cidade; Campo [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Juliana Rojas (Brazil)
Cinema&Gioventù – Prize for best Swiss project
Azor [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Andreas Fontana
film profile] - Andreas Fontana (Switzerland/France/Argentina)
Cinema&Gioventù – “Environment is quality of life” Prize
Eureka [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lisandro Alonso
film profile] - Lisandro Alonso (France/Portugal/Germany/Mexico/Argentina)
Pardi di domani
Cinema&Gioventù – Prize for best international short film
Red Aninsri; Or, Tiptoeing on the Still Trembling Berlin Wall - Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke (Thailand)
Cinema&Gioventù – Prize for best Swiss short film
Black Hole - Tristan Aymon (Switzerland)
Open Doors Screenings
Short Films
Cinema&Gioventù – Prize for best short film
A Gift - Aditya Ahmad (Indonesia)
Special Mention
Liar Land - Ananth Subramaniam (Malaysia)
Feature Films
Cinema&Gioventù – “Environment is quality of life” Prize for best full-length feature
Sell Out! - Yeo Joon Han (Malaysia)
Special Mention
Clash - Pepe Diokno (Philippines)
(Translated from Italian)
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