Before beginning his movie career, Jafar Panahi made a number of short films and documentaries for Iranian television and worked as assistant director. Panahi’s features have won many awards at international festivals: his directorial debut, Badkonake sefid (The White Balloon, 1995 Camera d’or in Cannes), was followed by Ayneh (The Mirror, 1997 Golden Leopard in Locarno), Dayereh (The Circle, 2000 Golden Lion in Venice), Talaye sorkh (Crimson Gold, 2003 Prix du Jury - Un Certain Regard in Ca...

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  The Chinese film WINTER VACATION (Han Jia) has won the top prize, the Pardo d’oro/Golden Leopard for its director Li Hongqi at the Locarno Film Festival, which ended its 63rd edition on August 15. The award includes a 90,000 CHF cash prize. The film also won the FIPRESCI International Critics Prize, shared with fellow Chinese production KAMARAY by Xu Xin, which received a special mention.   WINTER’S VACATION centers on four idle, aimless adolescents who gather...

Concorso internazionale (International Competition) The Jury The official jury of the 63rd Festival del film Locarno: President: Eric Khoo, Filmmaker (Singapore) Golshifteh Farahani, Actress (Iran) Melvil Poupaud, Actor (France) Lionel Baier, Filmmaker (Switzerland) Joshua Safdie, Filmmaker (USA) Awarded the following prizes: Pardo d'oro (Golden Leopard) Grand Prize of the Festival, the City and Region of Locarno (90.000 chf to be shared equall...

At the 63rd edition of the Locarno International Film Festival, a Swisscom Leopard of Honour will be awarded to the Swiss director Alain Tanner, who will hold a public Masterclass. © Antonio Masolotti Born in 1929 in Geneva, Alain Tanner made his first cinema feature film in 1969: Charles, Dead or Alive immediately picked up the Golden Leopard at the Locarno Festival. Two years later, The Salamander (1971) racked up 200,000 ticket sales in Paris. Alain Tanner thus established himself...

The closing ceremony of the 62nd Locarno International Film Festival took place on Saturday, August 15th 2009 at the Piazza Grande.The announcement of the Official Awards 2008 was followed by the world première screening of CHINGISIYN HOYOR ZAGAL (THE TWO HORSES OF GENGHIS KHAN) by Byambasuren Davaa, and by a surprise-concert of Mongolia singer Urna Chahar.Golden Leopard SHE, A CHINESE by Xiaolu GUO, United Kingdom/Germany/FranceSpecial Jury Prize BUBEN.BARABAN by Alexei Mizgirev, Russia Best ...

  by Sandy Mandelberger, Online Dailies Editor  One cannot contemplate the accomplishments of Polish cinema without acknowledging the singular contribution of Krzysztof Zanussi, who is the subject of a retrospective tribute at the ERA New Horizons International Film Festival, taking place in Wroclaw, Poland this week. Not only will the master director’s best-known films be screened, but the Festival programmers have unearthed early short films and television works that have not been seen i...

Dailies Editor One cannot contemplate the accomplishments of Polish cinema without acknowledging the singular contribution of Krzysztof Zanussi, who is the subject of a retrospective tribute at the ERA New Horizons International Film Festival, taking place in Wroclaw, Poland this week. Not only will the master director’s best-known films be screened, but the Festival programmers have unearthed early short films and television works that have not been seen in decades. Zanussi was born in Wars...

The closing ceremony of the 61st Locarno International Film Festival took place on Saturday, August 16th 2008 at the Piazza Grande. The announcement of the Official Awards 2008 was followed by the screening of BACK SOON, a French / Islandic comedy by Solveig Anspach, as a World Premiere. Golden Leopard PARQUE VIA by Enrique Rivero, Mexico Special Jury Prize  33 SCENY Z ZYCIA (33 Scenes from Life) by Malgoska Szumowska, Germany/Poland Best Director for ELLE VEUT LE CHAOS, ...

The closing ceremony of the 61st Locarno International Film Festival took place on Saturday, August 16th 2008 at the Piazza Grande. The announcement of the Official Awards 2008 was followed by the screening of BACK SOON, a French / Islandic comedy by Solveig Anspach, as a World Premiere. Golden Leopard PARQUE VIA by Enrique Rivero, MexicoSpecial Jury Prize  33 SCENY Z ZYCIA (33 Scenes from Life) by Malgoska Szumowska, Germany/Poland Best Director for ELLE VEUT LE CHAOS, Canada Leopard for Best ...

The closing ceremony of the 61st Locarno International Film Festival took place on Saturday, August 16th 2008 at the Piazza Grande. The announcement of the Official Awards 2008 was followed by the screening of BACK SOON, a French / Islandic comedy by Solveig Anspach, as a World Premiere. Golden Leopard PARQUE VIA by Enrique Rivero, MexicoSpecial Jury Prize 33 SCENY Z ZYCIA (33 Scenes from Life) by Malgoska Szumowska, Germany/Poland Best Director for ELLE VEUT LE CHAOS, Canada Leopard for Best A...

 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. The 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 dir...

NASHVILLE CLOSES FEST AS AWARDS ARE ANNOUNCEDThe 58th installment of the Locarno film festival at the Tippety-top of glorious Lago Maggiore in the Italian Speaking part of Switzerland (Ticino) got underway on Wednesday, August 3rd and concluded August 13. Some 300 films of all kinds will be projected at numerous venues all over town, but the main event is the slate of 18 features in competition for the spotted leopard awards, the jungle cat in question being the symbol of this fabulous Alpine re...

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITIONThe Official Jury of the 57th Locarno International Film Festival:Olivier Assayas, Director, FranceRené Burri, Photographer, SwitzerlandTilde Corsi, Producer, ItalyUdo Kier, Actor, GermanyDavid Robinson, Critic and film historian, UKSabiha Sumar, Director, PakistanYu Lik-wai, Director, ChinaThe jury has unanimously awarded the:GOLDEN LEOPARD, Grand Prize of the City and Region of Locarno (90,000 SF to beshared equally between the director and the producer) for the best ...