Locarno Film Festival managed a positive performance in terms of both audience participation – online and in theaters – and international attention from professionals across the sector and worldwide

The Locarno 2020 hybrid edition was planned as a concrete response to the difficulties facing the film industry as a result of the pandemic. An edition born out of the global crisis which forced the Locarno Film Festival to reinvent itself for 2020.

Locarno Film Festival is one of the world’s longest-running annual film festivals and focuses on auteur cinema.

Two female gazes, stretching from Switzerland to Argentina, have won the Pardi 2020 awards – each worth 70,000 Swiss francs – for productions halted by the COVID-19 crisis. The international jury for The Films After Tomorrow – made up of Nadav Lapid, Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese and Kelly Reichardt – picked out 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.

In the international selection the Campari Award, a special jury prize worth 50,000 Swiss francs, 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 (30,000 Swiss francs) 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.

President Marco Solari said: “Our main objectives have been achieved. Thanks to the projects developed by the Artistic Director, the Chief Operating Officer and their teams, we have managed to send out a clear message of solidarity with the film industry. Putting our programming online has been a huge incentive for digitalization of the Festival. Lastly, with the re-opening of three movie theaters, we have consolidated our rapport with the local public.”

Artistic Director Lili Hinstin, who in this second year of her mandate developed the basic concept of Locarno 2020 – For the Future of Films, commented: “It has also made us reflect about the future of the cinema, because it showed that screenings in theaters and VOD or streaming are not necessarily in conflict, but can co-exist together, with both experiences encouraging viewers to discover films away from the usual mainstream track.”

Chief operating officer Raphael Brunschwig said the COVID-19 crisis had sped up the move towards going online and Locarno hopes to become “the model of a film festival that looks to the future”. During the August 5-15 festival, some 5,950 people saw films in Locarno indoor cinemas reopened after the coronavirus lockdown.

But 320,000 visits were made to the festival’s digital platform, where full length movies, short films, masterclasses, panel discussions and talks were made available online. This included 80,000 views of films screened and original festival content.

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

The jury for the international selection, made up of Nadav Lapid, Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese and Kelly Reichardt, awarded the following prizes:

• Pardo 2020: for the production of the film, to the best international project (70,000 Swiss francs)

• CHOCOBAR by Lucrecia Martel, Argentina/USA/Denmark/Mexico

Campari Award: special jury prize (50,000 Swiss francs)

SELVAJARIA (Savagery) by Miguel Gomes, Portugal/France/Brazil/ Chine/Greece

Swatch Award: for the most innovative project (30,000 Swiss francs) and the opportunity to design a limited-edition Swatch which will be the official watch of Locarno74

DE HUMANI CORPORIS FABRICA (The Fabric of the Human Body) by Verena Paravel and Lucien Castaing-Taylor

The Films After Tomorrow – Swiss selection

The jury for the Swiss selection, made up of Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Alina Marazzi and Matías Piñeiro, awarded the following prizes:

• Pardo 2020: for the production of the film, to the best Swiss project (70,000 Swiss francs)

• ZAHORÍ by Marí Alessandrini, Switzerland/Argentina/Chile/France

SRG SSR Award: promotional television campaign worth 100,000 Swiss francs for a Swiss project, guaranteeing publicity on national networks to accompany theatrical release in Switzerland

• LUX by Raphaël Dubach and Mateo Ybarra, Switzerland

Pardi di domani

The Pardi di domani jury, made up of Kiri Dalena, Mamadou Dia and Claudette Godfrey, awarded the following prizes:

International Competition

Pardino d’oro SRG SSR for the best international short film (10,000 Swiss francs)

I RAN FROM IT AND WAS STILL IN IT by Darol Olu Kae, USA

Pardino d’argento SRG SSR for an international short film (5,000 Swiss francs)

HISTORY OF CIVILIZATION by Zhannat Alshanova, Kazakhstan

Medien Patent Verwaltung AG Prize, sponsored by Medien Patent Verwaltung AG, in the form of subtitling in three central European languages

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 (10,000 Swiss francs)

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 (5,000 Swiss francs)

TROU NOIR (Black Hole) by Tristan Aymon, Switzerland

Best Swiss Newcomer Prize, consisting of equipment and services offered by Cinegrell, Freestudios and Taurus Studio

LACHSMÄNNER (Salmon Men) by Veronica L. Montaño, Manuela Leuenberger, Joel Hofmann, Switzerland

(For complete list of award winners go to http://www.pickle.co.in)