Michel Piccoli Shares Best Actor Award

Tuesday, August 14----------The Locarno International Film Festival, celebrating its 60th anniversary this year in the picturesque city of Locarno in the Swiss canton of Ticino, held its Gala Awards ceremony on Saturday evening, honoring a group of exceptional films from around the world.

Masahiro KobayashiThe Japanese drama THE REBIRTH won the Golden Leopard, the Festival's highest honor. Director Masahiro Kobayashi collected his award at the ceremony held in the city's expansive Piazza Grande. The director takes the starring role in the film fable, about a filmmaker who develops a bond with the mother of the girl who killed his own daughter. The Special Jury Prize went to Pedro Costa, Harun Farocki, and Eugene Green for the film MEMORIES, a multi-story digital project initiated by the Jeonju International Film Festival in South Korea. The prize for Best Director was awarded to Philippe Ramos for CAPITAINE ACHAB, a drama loosely based on the Herman Melville classic novel Moby Dick. Best actress honors went to Marian Alvares for  LO MEJOR DE MI. Two actors of different generations shared the Best Actor prize, with the award being split between French actor Michel Piccoli (for his stellar work in SOUS LES TOITS DE PARIS) and Italian actor Michele Venitucci for FUORI DALLE CORDE. The Chinese cinematographer Cho Sang-yoon was given a Special Jury Prize for his work on the film BOYS OF TOMORROW.

Death At A FuneralThe Leopard for Best First Film went to Vittorio Rifranti's TAGLIARE LE PARTI IN GRIGIO, the story of three people bonded by their experiences of surviving a serious accident. The Public's Choice Award for Films in the Piazza was given to the British comedy DEATH AT A FUNERAL, directed by Frank Oz (the film opens in the United States this month). Following the Awards Ceremony, the Festival screened the sports documentary WINNERS AND LOSERS, a world premiere. The film, directed by Lech Kowalski, offers a  personal perspective on last year's infamous World Cup final match between Italy and France.

The Locarno International Film Festival, one of the few major film festival events in Europe in August, has established its reputation over six decades as a festival of programming taste and curatorial daring. With a focus on films coming from the film communities in Asia, Africa, South America and Europe, the Festival establishes a beachhead for European distribution from around the world. Its parallel Film Market brings together film industry professionals in a casual but business-minded atmosphere. Through its interesting award choices, the juries of the Festival have ignited our curiosity for interesting new work from film artists still making their international reputations. As the first major events of the late summer (with Venice, Montreal and Toronto following at its heals), Locarno remains, after sixty years, a place of discovery and art appreciation.

Sandy Mandelberger, Awards Watch Editor