Brazilian filmmaker Julia Murat clinched the Golden Leopard prize in the main international competition of the 75th Locarno Film Festival with her latest feature Rule 34.
The film follows Simone, a young law student who finds a passion for defending women in abuse cases. Yet her own sexual interests lead her to a world of violence and eroticism.
Rule 34 is Murat’s third feature film after Pendular, which picked up the FIPRESCI Prize at the 2017 Berlinale. The Brazillian filmmaker’s first film, Found Memories, debuted at Venice.
Locarno’s Golden Leopard comes with a CHF 75,000 cash prize to be shared equally between the director and the producer. Murat produced the film alongside Tatiana Leite.
This year’s Golden Leopard competition jury was comprised of Swiss producer Michel Merkt, British filmmaker Prano Bailey-Bond, French filmmaker Alain Guiraudie, American producer William Horberg, and Italian director Laura Samani.
In other main competition awards, the CHF 30,000 Special Jury Prize of the Cities of Ascona and Losone went to Italian director Alessandro Comodin’s Gigi la legge, which follows Gigi, a rural traffic officer whose world is shifted after a young girl throws herself under a train.
Costa Rican filmmaker Valentina Maure and actors Daniela Marín and Reinaldo Amien Gutiérrez picked up the best director, actress, and actor awards respectively for Tengo sueños eléctricos. The flick follows Eva, a 16-year-old girl who lives with her mother, her younger sister, and their cat, but wants to move in with her estranged father. Clinging onto him, she tries to balance between the tenderness and sensitivity of teenage life.
This was the first full-scale edition of Locarno since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. The festival opened with the international festival premiere of the Brad Pitt-starrer Bullet Train and hosted retrospective screenings of Douglas Sirk’s work.
Check out the full list of winners below:
CONCORSO INTERNAZIONALE
Golden Leopard (Pardo d’Oro) Rule 34, dir: Julia Murat
Special Jury Prize of the Cities of Ascona and Losone Gigi la legge, dir: Alessandro Comodin
Pardo for Best Direction of the City and Region of Locarno for the best directed film Tengo sueños eléctricos, Valentina Maurel
Pardo for Best Actress Tengo sueños eléctricos, Daniela Marín Navarro
Pardo for Best Actor Tengo sueños eléctricos, Reinaldo Amien Gutiérrez
CONCORSO CINEASTI DEL PRESENT
Pardo d’oro Concorso Cineasti del presente to the best film Svetlonoc (Nightsiren), dir: Tereza Nvotová
Best Emerging Director Award of the City and Region of Locarno Sigurno Mjesto (Safe Place), Juraj Lerotić
Special Jury Prize Ciné+ Yak Tam Katia? (How Is Katia?), Christina Tynkevych
Pardo for Best Actress Yak Tam Katia? (How Is Katia?), Anastasia Karpenko
Pardo for Best Actor Sigurno Mjesto (Safe Place), Goran Marković
Special Mention Den Siste VÅren (Sister, What Grows Where Land Is Sick?), Franciska Eliassen
FIRST FEATURE
Swatch First Feature Award Sigurno Mjesto (Safe Place), Juraj Lerotić
Special Mentions Love Dog, Bianca Lucas De Noche Los Gastos Son Pardos, Valentin Merz
PARI DI DOMANI
Concorso Corti d’autore Pardino d’oro Swiss Life for the Best Auteur Short Film Big Bang, Carlos Segundo
Concorso internazionale Pardino d’oro SRG SSR for the Best International Short Film Soberane (Soverign), Wara
Pardino d’argento SRG SSR for the International Competition Buurman Abdi (Neighbour Abdi), Douwe Dijkstra
Pardi di domani Best Direction Award – BONALUMI Engineering Hardly Working, Total Refusal
Medien Patent Verwaltung AG Award Mulika, Maisha Maene
Special Mention Madar Tamame Rooz Doa Mikhanad (Mother Prays All Day Long), Hoda Taheri
Short Film candidate of the Locarno Film Festival for the European Film Awards Buurman Abdi (Neighbour Abdi), Douwe Dijkstra
Concorso Nazionale
Pardino d’oro Swiss Life for the Best Swiss Short Film Euridice, Euridice, Lora Mure-Ravaud
Pardino d’argento Swiss Life for the National Competition Der Molchkongress, Matthias Sahli
Best Swiss Newcomer Award Heartbeat, Michèle Flury
PARDO VERDE WWF Matter Out Of Time, Nikolaus Geyrhalter
Special Mentions É Noite Na America (It It Night In America), Ana Vaz Baliqlara Xutbe (Sermone Of The Fish), Hilal Baydarov