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LOCARNO 2018 Competition / Filmmakers of the Present / Signs of Life / Piazza Grande / Awards

A Land Imagined unexpectedly wins Locarno’s Golden Leopard

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- LOCARNO 2018: The 2018 Locarno Film Festival, the sixth and final edition to be helmed by artistic director Carlo Chatrian, has proven all the predictions wrong by awarding the film by Yeo Siew Hua

A Land Imagined unexpectedly wins Locarno’s Golden Leopard
Yeo Siew Hua with his Golden Leopard (© Locarno Film Festival)

The 2018 Locarno Film Festival, the sixth and final edition to be helmed by artistic director Carlo Chatrian, has proven all the predictions wrong by awarding A Land Imagined [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Singapore’s Yeo Siew Hua.

The 71st edition of the gathering came to a close after having treated its audiences to an impressive 293 films (including 15 in the International Competition) and awarding a high number of female directors (who scooped 12 out of the 25 prizes). Flanking the Golden Leopard winner A Land Imagined (a film that is hard to summarise – a kind of neo-thriller that brings together a film noir atmosphere and virtual reality) on the International Competition podium were the moving M [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Yolande Zauberman (Special Jury Prize) and Too Late to Die Young [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Chile’s Dominga Sotomayor (Leopard for Best Director), a movie born of the director’s own memories, which breathe life into the everyday routine of an unusual group of people.

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Still in the International Competition, and focusing on the European side, the family drama Alice T. [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Radu Muntean
film profile
]
by Romania’s Radu Muntean, a Romanian-French-Swedish co-production, went home with the Leopard for Best Actress (for Andra Guţi). The jury, comprising directors Jia Zhang-keSean Baker and Tizza Covi, French author Emmanuel Carrère and Italian actress Isabella Ragonese, decided to hand a Special Mention to Ray & Liz [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Richard Billingham
film profile
]
, an autobiographical film by British photographer, artist and filmmaker Richard Billingham.

In the Filmmakers of the Present competition, we find another European co-production (Austria/Syria/Lebanon/Qatar) in the form of Chaos [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Syrian director Sara Fattahi, which came up trumps by scooping the Filmmakers of the Present Golden Leopard. Meanwhile, the Ciné+ Special Jury Prize went to the poetic Closing Time [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Swiss filmmaker Nicole Vögele. Still on the Swiss side, With the Wind [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bettina Oberli
film profile
]
by Bettina Oberli pocketed the Variety Piazza Grande Award. 

Having already won the Film und Untertitelung Award in the Pardi di domani competition in 2011, this year French director Benjamin Crotty took home the Fundación Casa Wabi – Mantarraya Award in the Signs of Life section with his The Glorious Acceptance of Nicolas Chauvin.

In the First Feature competition, it was the European titles All Good [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by young German director Eva Trobisch (Swatch First Feature Award) and the experimental Acid Forest [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Lithuania’s Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė (who will be one of the three Lithuanian representatives at the Venice Biennale in 2019) that eventually came out on top. 

Here is the complete list of award winners:

International Competition

Golden Leopard 
A Land Imagined [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 – Yeo Siew Hua (Singapore/France/Netherlands)

Special Jury Prize
M [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 – Yolande Zauberman (France)

Leopard for Best Director 
Too Late to Die Young [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 –
Dominga Sotomayor (Chile/Brazil/Argentina/Netherlands/Qatar)

Leopard for Best Actress 
Andra Guţi – Alice T. [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Radu Muntean
film profile
]
 (Romania/France/Sweden)

Leopard for Best Actor
KI Joobong – Hotel by the River (South Korea)

Special Mention
Ray & Liz [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Richard Billingham
film profile
]
– Richard Billingham (UK)

Filmmakers of the Present competition

Filmmmakers of the Present Golden Leopard
Chaos [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
 –
Sara Fattahi (Austria/Syria/Lebanon/Qatar) 

Award for Best Emerging Director – City and Region of Locarno
Dead Horse Nebula [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
– Tarik Aktas (Turkey)

Filmmakers of the Present Ciné+ Special Jury Prize
Closing Time [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 – Nicole Vögele (Switzerland/Germany)

Special Mentions
Faust – Andrea Bussmann (Mexico/Canada)
Rose, a character in Young and Alive [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Matthieu Bareyre
film profile
]
– Matthieu Bereyre (France) 

Signs of Life

ELECTRONIC-ART.FOUNDATION Signs of Life Award for Best Film 
The Fragile House – Lin Zi (China)

Fundación Casa Wabi – Mantarraya Award
The Glorious Acceptance of Nicolas Chauvin – Benjamin Crotty (France)

First Feature

Swatch First Feature Award
All Good [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
– Eva Trobisch (Germany)

Swatch Art Peace Hotel Award
Acid Forest [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
– Rugilè Barzdžiukaitė (Lithuania)

Special Mention
Erased, Ascent of the Invisible – Ghassan Halwani (Lebanon) 

Pardi di domani

International Competition

Golden Pardino for Best International Short Film – SRG SSR Award
Castle to Castle – Emmanuel Marre (Belgium/France)

SRG SSR Silver Pardino for the International Competition 
Heart of Hunger – Bernardo Zanotta (Netherlands)

Pardi di domani Best Director Award – PIANIFICA
The Labyrinth – Laura Huertas Millàn (France/Colombia/USA)

Medien Patent Verwaltung AG Award
I’m Going Out for Cigarettes – Osman Cerfon (France)

Special Mention 
Big Bridge - Simón Vélez (Colombia/Argentina)

National Competition

Golden Pardino for Best Swiss Short Film – Swiss Life Award
Those Who Desire - Elena López Riera (Switzerland/Spain)
(Locarno short-film nominee for the 2018 European Film Awards)

Swiss Life Silver Pardino for the National Competition
Abigaïl - Magdalena Froger (Switzerland)

Best Swiss Newcomer Award
Stone Age – Lou Rambert Preiss (Switzerland)

UBS Audience Award
Blackkklansman – Spike Lee (USA)

Variety Piazza Grande Award
With the Wind [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bettina Oberli
film profile
]
 - Bettina Oberli (Switzerland/France)

Ecumenical Award
Sibel [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Çağla Zencirci and Guillaum…
film profile
]
 - Çağla Zencirci and Guillaume Giovanetti (France/Germany/Luxembourg/Turkey)
Special Mentions 
Diane - Kent Jones (USA)
A Land Imagined – Yeo Siew Hua

FIPRESCI Award
Sibel - Çağla Zencirci and Guillaume Giovanetti

SRG SSR/Critics’ Week Award 
The Time of Forests [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
François-Xavier Drouet (France)

Zonta Club Locarno Award
#Female Pleasure [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 –
Barbara Miller (Switzerland/Germany)

Youth Jury Award

First Prize 
A Land Imagined – Yeo Siew Hua

Second Prize 
Sibel - Çağla Zencirci and Guillaume Giovanetti

Third Prize 
Hotel by the River – Hong Sangsoo

Special Mentions 
Menocchio [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 –
Alberto Fasulo (Italy/Romania)
La flor – Mariano Llinas (Argentina)

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(Translated from Italian)

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