The Ecumenical Jury in Locarno has awarded its CHF 10,000 prize to the Italian production "Patagonia" by Simone Bozzelli. The jury also awarded a Commendation to "Don't Expect Too Much From the End of the World" by Radu Jude, which also received the special prize of the international festival jury. The Golden Leopard, the festival's main prize, went to "Critical Zone" by Ali Ahmadzadeh, an underground production from Iran. The prize was accepted by producer Sina Ataeian Dena, who called for resistance against authoritarian regimes all over the world. The festival jury awarded the prize for best director to Maryna Vroda from Ukraine for her film "Stepne", which also won the Fipresci Prize of International Film Critics.
Link: Award ceremony of the international festival jury
Link: Award ceremony of the independent juries
Fifty years ago, in 1973, in Locarno an ecumenical jury was established for the first time. INTERFILM and SIGNIS celebrated this anniversary during the Festival with an ecumenical reception at which the director István Szabó was awarded the Honorary Prize of the Ecumenical Jury. His film "Tüzolto utca 25." (Firemen's Alley 25) was awarded the Ecumenical Jury Prize in Locarno in 1974. This year, the festival showed Szabó's latest film "Zárójelentés" (Final Report) as a European premiere. The director took also part in a public panel on 10 August, where he discussed the topic "Film, Culture and Spirituality - 50 Years of the Ecumenical Jury in Locarno" with this year's jury members Marie-Therese Mäder and Joachim Valentin. The panel was moderated by Ingrid Glatz, Vice-President of INTERFILM and expert on Hungarian film.
The festival opened on 2 August on the large open-air stage of the Piazza Grande with the French production "Dammi" by Yann Mounir Demange. Leading actor Riz Ahmed was presented with the Excellence Award. In addition to the Piazza Grande programme and the International Competition, the festival also showed films in the sections Concorso cineasti di presente, Pardi di domani, Open Doors, Fuori concorso and a series of films for children. The retrospective curated by film critic Olaf Möller is dedicated to Mexican cinema. The Histoire(s) de cinéma series honours film artists who were awarded special prizes by the festival this year, among them Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-liang, who was awarded the Pardo alla carriera.