The 11 days of the Festival this year brought packed cinemas, extraordinary moments, and unforgettable encounters to the city of Locarno once again, capped off by the triumph of the Lithuanian drama Akiplëða (Toxic), winner of the Festival’s Pardo d’Oro of the Concorso Internazionale.
With a rich and varied program of films, the official selection of Locarno77 served as a robust defense of all possible kinds of cinema, spanning popular to arthouse, experimental to classically crafted, auteur-driven to collective. It was an edition that combined success at the Locarno box office – featuring many sold out screenings and long winding lines of ticketholders in the streets – with the thoughtful curation of sidebar programs that have come to define the Festival.
The prize list of the 77th Locarno Film Festival crowned Akiplëða (Toxic) by Saulė Bliuvaitė, an incisive portrayal of teenage girls and the crushing expectations imposed upon them. Also, in the Concorso Internazionale, Kurdwin Ayub’s Mond won the Special Jury Prize, while the Pardo for Best Direction went to Laurynas Bareiša for Seses (Drowning Dry). The two Best Performance Awards were given respectively to Gelminė Glemžaitė, Agnė Kaktaitė, Giedrius Kiela, and Paulius Markevičius for Seses (Drowning Dry) and to Kim Minhee, star of Hong Sangsoo’s SUYOOCHEON (BY THE STREAM). The Pardo d’Oro in the Concorso Cineasti del Presente was instead awarded to Tato Kotetishvili’s HOLY ELECTRICITY.
Giona A. Nazzaro, Artistic Director of the Locarno Film Festival: “A truly unique edition that marked once more what makes Locarno such a cherished festival both with audiences worldwide and within the film industry. Creativity and hope for a better tomorrow were the elements that ran through all the sections. Cinema is a driving force and Locarno is a flagship for it. We are truly proud of this edition and grateful for the tremendous team effort behind its success. The victory of newcomer Saulė Bliuvaitė, whose Akiplëða won the Pardo d’Oro and the Swatch First Feature Award, confirms the Locarno Film Festival’s ability to identify the most innovative talents in the business. And it is also proof, along with the Special Jury Prize to Kurdwin Ayub’s Mond, the MUBI Award – Debut Feature to Sylvie Ballyot’s Green Line, or even the Best Emerging Director Award in the Concorso Cineasti del Presente to Denise Fernandes from Ticino (Hanami), of the great attention our juries have paid to the most daring female auteurs. Locarno77 has affirmed even more strongly the centrality of women’s voices in contemporary cinema.”
