With a score of 4.79 (out of 5), Soberane, directed by Brazilian filmmaker Wara, won the sixth edition of the Locarno Shorts Weeks, the Locarno Film Festival’s online celebration of the short form. The global audience for the program selected Soberane out of 29 films available for the 29 days of February 2024.
If you missed it, we are offering you the chance to watch Soberane in our screening room, where it will be available again for 24 hours. Join us in celebrating short cinema.
The data clearly shows the program’s international success and reach, which vigorously engages the Festival’s global community every year: Locarno Shorts Weeks saw over a million views across the Locarno Film Festival’s digital and social channels.
The Locarno Shorts Weeks Audience Award, supported by Swiss Life, puts short cinema back at the heart of the conversation, giving filmmakers a further chance for recognition beyond the specific time their films were shot, shown, or later distributed. The protagonist of Wara’s film, Hakan, does not wish to return to Brazil, but also doesn’t know how to tell their partner Lissy that they can no longer offer her a dream life outside of Cuba. Shot during the COVID pandemic, the film is suspended between two worlds – Cuba and Brazil – and the deep uncertainty of that historical moment.
Originally shown in the Pardi di Domani section of the Locarno Film Festival in 2022, the film also took home the main prize of the Concorso Internazionale that year, the Pardino d’Oro SRG SSR for the Best International Short Film.
On our Instagram, we caught up with director Wara to discuss the background for the film, this second award for their work, shooting without permits, and what it feels like to look back on that specific historical moment from the vantage point of 2024.
