Two female filmmakers won the top Pardi 2020 awards at the special edition of Locarno 2020, themed For the Future of Films.
Chocobar, by acclaimed Argentinian filmmaker Lucrecia Martel, a political documentary that takes its cue from the murder in 2009 of land rights activist Javier Chocobar to investigate aspects of colonization and native culture, won the Pardo 2020 for best international film.
The Pardo 2020 for best Swiss film project was awarded to another female director, Marí Alessandrini, with Zahorí, a Swiss film also set in Argentina, where an unlikely friendship grows on the Patagonian Steppe between a thirteen-year-old girl of Ticino origin and an old Mapuche man.
In the international selection the Campari Award, a special jury prize went to the film Selvajaria (Savagery) by Miguel Gomes, freely adapted from the novel Rebellion in the Backlands by Euclides da Cunha, an account of the late 19th century military campaign of the newly-formed Brazilian Republic against the tiny settlement of Canudos. The Swatch Award for the most innovative project was won by De Humani Corporis Fabrica (The Fabric of the Human Body) by Verena Paravel and Lucien-Castaing Taylor, a political and philosophical documentary on the delicate issues of bioethics raised by new technologies in medicine.
The 74th Locarno Film Festival will take place from 4 to 14 August 2021.
The complete list of award winners is as follows:
The Films After Tomorrow – International Selection
Pardo 2020: for the production of the film, to the best international project
CHOCOBAR by Lucrecia Martel, Argentina/USA/Denmark/Mexico
Campari Award: special jury prize
SELVAJARIA (Savagery) by Miguel Gomes, Portugal/France/Brazil/Chine/Greece
Swatch Award: for the most innovative project
DE HUMANI CORPORIS FABRICA (The Fabric of the Human Body) by Verena Paravel and Lucien Castaing-Taylor
The Films After Tomorrow – Swiss selection
Pardo 2020: for the production of the film, to the best Swiss project
ZAHORÍ by Marí Alessandrini, Switzerland/Argentina/Chile/France
SRG SSR Award
LUX by Raphaël Dubach and Mateo Ybarra, Switzerland
Pardi di domani
International Competition
Pardino d’oro SRG SSR for the best international short film
I RAN FROM IT AND WAS STILL IN IT by Darol Olu Kae, USA
Pardino d’argento SRG SSR for an international short film
HISTORY OF CIVILIZATION by Zhannat Alshanova, Kazakhstan
Medien Patent Verwaltung AG Prize
THIÊN ĐƯỜNG GỌI TÊN (A Trip to Heaven) by Linh Duong, Vietnam/Singapore
Special Mention
LIFE ON THE HORN by Mo Harawe, Somalia/Austria/Germany
Swiss Competition
Pardino d’oro Swiss Life for the best Swiss short film
MENSCHEN AM SAMSTAG (People on Saturday) by Jonas Ulrich, Switzerland
(Locarno Short Film Candidate for the European Film Awards)
Pardino d’argento Swiss Life for a Swiss short film
TROU NOIR (Black Hole) by Tristan Aymon, Switzerland
Best Swiss Newcomer Prize
LACHSMÄNNER (Salmon Men) by Veronica L. Montaño, Manuela Leuenberger, Joel Hofmann, Switzerland
The Cinema&Gioventù junior jury also awarded the following prizes:
The Films After Tomorrow
Prize for best international project
CIDADE;CAMPO by Juliana Rojas, Brazil
Prize for best Swiss project
AZOR by Andreas Fontana, Switzerland/France/Argentina
“Environment is quality of life” Prize
EUREKA by Lisandro Alonso, France/Portugal/Germany/Mexico/Argentina
Pardi di domani
Prize for best international short film (1,500 Swiss francs)
ANINSRI DAENG (Red Aninsri; or, Tiptoeing on the Still Trembling Berlin Wall) by Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke, Thailand
Prize for best Swiss short film (1,500 Swiss francs)
TROU NOIR (Black Hole) by Tristan Aymon, Switzerland
Open Doors Screenings
Short films
Prize for best short film (1,500 Swiss francs)
KADO (A Gift) di Aditya Ahmad, Indonesia
Special Mention
LIAR LAND di Ananth Subramaniam, Malaysia
Long films
“Environment is quality of life” Prize a for best full-length feature
SELL OUT! by Yeo Joon Han, Malaysia
Special Mention
ENGKWENTRO (Clash) by Pepe Diokno, Philippines