The 72nd annual

Locarno Festival The Locarno Film Festival is an annual film festival, held every August in Locarno, Switzerland. Founded in 1946, the festival screens films in various competitive and non-competitive sections, including feature-length narrative, documentary, sh ...

was held from 7 August to 17 August 2019. The debut feature by Italian director-producer

Ginevra Elkann Ginevra Elkann (born 24 September 1979) is a London-born Italian film producer and director. She is a member of the Agnelli family and granddaughter of Italian industrialist Gianni Agnelli. Early life Elkann was born in London,

's ''Magari'' opened the festival, and

Kiyoshi Kurosawa is a Japanese film director, screenwriter, film critic and a professor at Tokyo University of the Arts. Although he has worked in a variety of genres, Kurosawa is best known for his many contributions to the Japanese horror genre, his honorific ...

's ''

To the Ends of the Earth ''To the Ends of the Earth'' is the title given to a trilogy of nautical, relational novels—''Rites of Passage'' (1980), ''Close Quarters'' (1987), and ''Fire Down Below'' (1989)—by British author William Golding. Set on a former British ...

'' was screened as closing film.

Juries

International Competition

Catherine Breillat Catherine Breillat (; born 13 July 1948) is a French filmmaker, novelist and professor of auteur cinema at the European Graduate School. In the film business for over 40 years, Catherine Breillat chooses to normalize previously taboo subjects in ...

, French filmmaker, novelist and professor - Jury President * Ilse Hughan, Dutch producer * Emiliano Morreale, Italian film critic *

Nahuel Pérez Biscayart Nahuel Pérez Biscayart (, ; born 6 March 1986) is an Argentine actor. A polyglot, he is best known for his role in the French film '' BPM (Beats per Minute)'' (2017), which earned him a César and a Lumières Award. Early life Pérez Biscaya ...

, Argentinian actor *

Angela Schanelec Angela Schanelec (; born 14 February 1962) is a German actress, film director and screenwriter. Her film '' Places in Cities'' was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. At the 69th Berlin International Film ...

, German filmmaker

Filmmakers of the Present

* Jake Perlin, American producer - Jury President * Shengze Zhu, Chinese filmmaker and producer *

Yolande Zauberman Yolande Zauberman () is a French film director and screenwriter. Career She made her debut in cinema working alongside Amos Gitai. In 1987 she directed her first documentary ''Classified People'', dealing with apartheid in South Africa, which wo ...

, French filmmaker

Leopards of Tomorrow

Bi Gan Prince Bi Gan (, Bǐgān) was a prominent Chinese figure during the Shang dynasty. He was a son of King Wen Ding, and an uncle of King Zhou, and served as the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Shang. He was later worshipped as the God of Wealth. ...

, Chinese filmmaker - Jury President *

Alice Diop Alice Diop (b. 1979) is a French filmmaker, who makes films about contemporary French society. Early life and education Born in Aulnay-sous-Bois in 1979, daughter of Senegalese parents, Alice Diop was raised in the Cité des 3000 housing project I ...

, French filmmaker * Mike Plante, American short films programmer at

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

Moving Ahead

* Michael Boyce Gillespie, American film theorist and historian - Jury President * Aline Schmid, Swiss producer *

Eduardo Williams Eduardo "Teddy" Williams (born 1987) is an Argentine film director. He first studied at Universidad del Cine in Buenos Aires, and then in Fresnoy, France, under the tutorship of Portuguese director Miguel Gomes. Williams works within an avant-ga ...

, Argentinian filmmaker

Best First Feature Prizes

* Margherita Chiti, Italian distributor - Jury President * Frédéric Jaeger, German artistic director of Berlin Critics’ Week * Jacqueline Lyanga, American festival director

Sections

Piazza Grande

International Competition (''Concorso internazionale'')

Filmmakers of the Present (''Concorso Cineasti del presente'')

Moving Ahead

Leopards of Tomorrow (''Pardi di domani'')

International Competition (''Concorso internazionale'')

Swiss Competition (''Concorso nazionale'')

Official Awards

The following awards were presented for films shown In Competition:

International Competition

Golden Leopard The Golden Leopard () is the top prize at the Locarno International Film Festival, an international film festival held annually in Locarno, Switzerland since 1946. Directors in the process of getting an international reputation are allowed to be ...

: ''

Vitalina Varela ''Vitalina Varela'' is a 2019 Portuguese drama directed by acclaimed director Pedro Costa. It won the Golden Leopard and Best Actress Award at the 2019 Locarno Film Festival. The film follows Vitalina Varela, a character who previously appeare ...

'' by

Pedro Costa Pedro Costa (born 30 December 1958) is a Portuguese film director. He is best known for his sequence of films set in Lisbon, which focuses on the lives of the impoverished residents of a slum in the Fontainhas neighbourhood. Biography After com ...

* Special Jury Prize: ''

Height of the Wave ''Height of the Wave'' () is a 2019 South Korean drama film directed by Park Jung-bum. It was first aired as part of tvN's 2019 ''Drama Stage'' television series. Unlike the television drama, the newly edited film features the guilt and greed bet ...

'' by

Park Jung-bum Park Jung-bum (born 1976) is a South Korean film director, screenwriter and actor. Park wrote, directed, and acted in his directorial debut '' The Journals of Musan'' (2011), which won the New Currents Award and FIPRESCI Award at the 15th Bus ...

* Best Direction Award: Damien Manivel for ''Isadora's Children'' *

Best Actor Award Best Actor is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actors in a film, television series, television film or play. The term most often refers to the ...

: Regis Myrupu for '' The Fever'' * Best Actress Award:

for ''

'' * Special Mentions: ** ''The Science of Fictions'' by Yosep Anggi Noen ** ''Maternal'' by Maura Delpero * Swatch First Feature Awards: '' Nafi’s Father'' by Mamadou Dia

Filmmakers of the Present

Golden Leopard - Filmmakers of the Present Filmmakers of the Present - Golden Leopard (Pardo d'oro Cineasti del presente) is an award at the Locarno International Film Festival The Locarno Film Festival is an annual film festival, held every August in Locarno, Switzerland. Founded ...

: '' Nafi's Father'' by Mamadou Dia * Best Emerging Director: Hassen Ferhani for ''143 sahara street'' * Special Jury Prize: ''Ivana the Terrible'' by Ivana Mladenović * Special Mention: ''Here for Life'' by Andrea Luka Zimmerman and Adrian Jackson

Moving Ahead

*Moving Ahead Award: ''The Giverny Document (Single Channel)'' by Ja'Tovia M. Gary *Special Mentions: ** ''Those That, at a Distance, Resemble Another'' by Jessica Sarah Rinland ** ''Osmosis'' by Zhou Tao

Leopards of Tomorrow

*Pardino d'oro for the Best International Short Film – SRG SSR Prize: ''Black Sun'' by Arda Çiltepe *Pardino d'oro for the Best Swiss Short Film – Swiss Life Prize: ''Mama Rosa'' by Dejan Barac *Pardino d'argento SSR SRG for the international competition: ''Umbilical'' by Danski Tang *Pardino d'argento Swiss Life for the national competition: ''Silent Storm'' by Anaïs Moog *Pardi di domani Best Direction Prize: Anton Sazonov for ''Leave of Absence''

References

External links

* {{Locarno International Film Festival 2019 film festivals 2019 festivals in Europe 2019 in Switzerland Locarno Festival August 2019 events in Switzerland