Monday, August 13, 2012

2012 Locarno Film Festival: Award Winners


The 65th edition of the Locarno Film Festival has now come to an end, with the closing awards ceremony held Saturday (August 11) evening at the Piazza Grande.

The jury presided by Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakhul awarded this year's Golden Leopard (Pardo d'oro) for Best Feature Film to The Girl From Nowhere (La fille du nulle part). A French film directed by Jean-Claude Brisseau, and starring Virginie Legeay and Claude Morel, about a retired math professor whose life changes when a young and injured homeless woman arrives at his door one day. Brisseau is known for making some twisted adult fables such as Secret Things (2002) and The Exterminating Angels (2006).

The Silver Leopard for Best Actor went to Walter Saabel for his role in The Shine of Day (Der glanz des tages), directed by Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel.

While the Best Actress trophy went to An Nai in When Night Falls (Wo hai you hua yao shou) by Ying Liang who also picked up the Best Director award. This South Korean produced Chinese film, which the Chinese authorities tried to stop from being shown, tells the true story of the mother of a man who killed six Shanghai policemen.

Read on for the list of winners from the Concorso internazionale section of this year's Festival del film Locarno:

Pardo d'oro - Golden Leopard for Best Feature Film
  • The Girl From Nowhere (La fille de nulle part)
    directed by Jean-Claude Brisseau
    France France
Premio speciale della giuria - Special Jury Prize
  • Somebody Up There Likes Me
    directed by Bob Byington
    USA USA
Pardo per la migliore regia - Silver Leopard for Best Director
  • Ying Liang
    for the film When Night Falls (我還有話要說)
    Korea South Korea
Pardo per la miglior interpretazione femminile - Best Actress
  • An Nai
    in the film When Night Falls (我還有話要說)
    Korea South Korea
Pardo per la miglior interpretazione maschile - Best Actor
  • Walter Saabel
    in the film The Shine of Day (Der glanz des tages)
    Austria Austria
Special Mention
  • To the extraordinary character Candy from the film A Última Vez Que Vi Macau

    "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."

    directed by João Pedro Rodrigues and João Rui Guerra da Mata
    Portugal Portugal, France France

View the full list of winners at the Official Festival Site.


2 comments:

d_4 said...

I like that it's a nice short list of awards, but I'm still feeling pretty lost.

The Movie Waffler said...

Here's the link to our latest blogathon if you fancy taking part.
http://www.themoviewaffler.com/p/winning-streak-blogathon.html

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