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. The jury of the Swiss selection, composed of Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Alina Marazzi and Matías Piñeiro, awarded another female director, Marí Alessandrini, with Zahorí, a Swiss production 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 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. Among the projects in the Swiss selection, the SRG SSR Award, consisting in a TV advertising campaign worth 100,000 Swiss francs, was assigned to LUX, a documentary about the Swiss army by young filmmakers Raphaël Dubach and Mateo Ybarra.
The list above comprises the verdict for the flagship section of this special edition of the Locarno Film Festival, conceived as a way of confronting the challenges of the cinema industry imposed by the global pandemic, and now coming to a successful close.
The pictures that tell the story of Locarno 2020 are unlike those from any other edition. Gone this year, alas, is the collective embrace of the Piazza Grande and the glamour of international movie stars. At the same time, however, this was the year in which the Festival opened up to a truly global audience with its first ever online programming. It has been a year of solidarity, too, with the projects in The Films After Tomorrow and those which, like Closer to Life, were organized on behalf of independent movie theaters, one of the film industry sectors worst hit in recent months. A year in which the filmmakers of the future took center stage, with the Pardi di domani short films section being followed enthusiastically both online and in theaters – where some of the Swiss directors were able to present their films to the audience physically. The main prizes for the Pardi di domani went to I ran from it and was still in it by Darol Olu Kae in the international competition and to Menschen am Samstag (People on Saturday) by Jonas Ulrich in the Swiss competition.
But this was also a year when the focus on reassessment of the past was equally sharp, with landmark titles in Festival history and the rediscovery of the event’s extensive archives. A year when we could explore or return to the cinemas of the Global South and East, thanks to the Open Doors Screenings – in which for the first time prizes have been awarded by the Cinema&Gioventù youth jury – and Through the Open Doors. Last but by no means least, this was a year when we experienced the joy of going to the movies again: in the Secret Screenings, in the cinema of wide open spaces seen in our opening-night film First Cow by Kelly Reichardt, and even in the unprecedented experience of lockdown, relived in the short films that make up the Collection Lockdown by Swiss Filmmakers, tomorrow’s closing-night feature at Locarno 2020.
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
The Cinema&Gioventù junior jury also awarded the following prizes:
The Films After Tomorrow
- Prize for best international project (5,000 Swiss francs)
CIDADE;CAMPO
by Juliana Rojas, Brazil
- Prize for best Swiss project (3,000 Swiss francs)
AZOR
by Andreas Fontana, Switzerland/France/Argentina
- “Environment is quality of life” Prize (3,000 Swiss francs)
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
Open Doors Screenings - Long films
- “Environment is quality of life” Prize a for best full-length feature (2,000 Swiss francs)
SELL OUT!
by Yeo Joon Han, Malaysia
- Special Mention
ENGKWENTRO (Clash)
by Pepe Diokno, Philippines
Perfectly in tune with the spirit of Locarno 2020, this year’s juries gave their verdict virtually. To watch the moment when their decision was announced, click here.
Artistic Director Lili Hinstin engaged in conversation with all the winners of The Films After Tomorrow, addressing both artistic and financial aspects of their projects and discussing how the global pandemic has impacted and is continuing to severely affect the film industry in its entirety. The conversations were filmed and can be watched again here.
To see the reactions of the Pardi di domani winners go here, and to watch again the Best Of Open Doors Hub & Lab go here.
Pictures and videos of the Prize List for Locarno 2020 – For the Future of Films are available for download here.
The 74th Locarno Film Festival will take place from 4 to 14 August 2021.
