Locarno 2017 Awards: MRS. FANG, THE FIRST LAP, Isabelle Huppert

Contributor; Slovakia (@martykudlac)
Locarno 2017 Awards: MRS. FANG, THE FIRST LAP, Isabelle Huppert

The 70th edition of the international film festival in Locarno, a true arthouse smorgasbord, has handed out this year's accolades.

The top honor, the Golden Leopard, was awarded to Chinese filmmaker Wang Bing, surprisingly, for Mrs. Fang. The documentary captures the last days of an Alzheimer´s patient. It's not an easy watch, with long shots centered on the titular 67-year- old woman, although Bing, first and foremost, demonstrates a humane approach to his subject.

Juliana Rojas and Marco Dutra shared the Special Jury Prize for their effort Good Manners, a lycanthropic fairy-tale for adults meshed with a coming-of-age story. The cinematographer, writer, and singer F.J. Ossang took home the Best Direction prize for the noir drama 9 Fingers.

Isabelle Huppert added another statue for Best Actress to her display box for her portrayal of Madame Hyde in the eagerly awaited female re-invention of the notorious story from Serge Bozon. The best male performance was attributed to Elliot Crosset Hove for his depiction of an alienating protagonist yearning for affection in Hlynur Pálmasson's drama Winter Brothers.

The main honor in the Filmmakers of the Present competition went to Bulgaria as the director Ilian Metev took the accolade for a family drama Three Quarters, which observes a father and his two children attempting to work as a family unit. Valerie Massadian received a Special Jury Prize for the exquisitely-framed drama Milla.

Kim Dae-Hwan received the Prize for the Best Emerging Director for the drama The First Lap, about a young couple and their encounters with their respective families. (Read our review by Pierce Conran.)

Two films shared the Special Mention award, docudrama Distant Constellation, where the camera wanders through a retirement home, capturing rituals and hearing past lives of its inhabitants, and Pedro Cabeleira´s Damned Summer, revolving around an aimless youth partying and slacking in Lisbon.

No less interesting are the winners in first feature category, Ana Urushadze´s unlikely portrait of a feminist, Scary Mother, won the prize for the Best First Feature while docu-fiction hybrid with an urgent political message Meteors, by Gurcan Keltek, received the Swatch Art Peace Hotel Award.

Young Swiss filmmaker Cyril Schäublin received a Special Mention prize for a snapshot from a capitalist reality Those Who Are Fine, marked by a rather unconventional approach to cinematography and framing. The audience also got its vote and picked Kumail Nanjiani's almost biopic The Big Sick, directed by Michael Showalter, as the laureate of the Prix du Public UBS.

The list of remaining winners:

Sign of Life Competition Signs of Life Award                                                                         ELECTRONIC-ART.FOUNDATION to the Best Film                                                                 COCOTE by Nelson Carlo De Los Santos Arias, Dominican Republic, Argentina, Germany, Qatar

Fundácion Casa Wabi – Mantarraya Award                                                                                       DANE KOMLJEN for PHANTASIESÄTZE, Germany, Denmark 

Special Mention                                                                                                                             ERA UMA VEZ BRASÍLIA by Adirley Queirós, Brazil, Portugal                                                  

Pardi di domani Concorso Internazionale                                                                                    

Pardino d’Oro for the Best International Short Film – Premio SRG SSR                                     ANTÓNIO E CATARINA by Cristina Hanes, Portugal

Pardino d’Argento SRG SSR for the Concorso Internazionale                                                   SHMAMA by Miki Polonski, Israel

Locarno Nomination for the European Film Awards – Premio Pianifica                                               JEUNES HOMMES À LA FENÊTRE by Loukianos Moshonas, France

Medien Patent Verwaltung AG Award                                                                                       KAPITALISTIS by Pablo Muñoz Gomez, Belgium,France

Special Mention                                                                                                                     ARMAGEDDON 2 by Corey Hughes, Cuba Concorso

Nazionale Pardino d’Oro for the Best Swiss Short Film – Premio Swiss Life                               REWIND FORWARD by Justin Stoneham, Switzerland

Pardino d’Argento Swiss Life for the Concorso Nazionale                                                                 59 SECONDES by Mauro Carraro, Switzerland

Best Swiss Newcomer Award                                                                                                         LES INTRANQUILLES by Magdalena Froger, Switzerland

Variety Piazza Grande Award                                                                                                         DREI ZINNEN by Jan Zabeil, Germany, Italy

Ecumenical Prize                                                                                                                                 The Main Prize                                                                                                                                   LUCKY by John Carroll Lynch, USA

Special Mention                                                                                                                   VINTERBRØDRE by Hlynur Pálmason, Danmark, Iceland                                                         QING TING ZHI YAN (Dragonfly Eyes) by XU Bing, China, USA

FIPRESCI Prize                                                                                                                           QING TING ZHI YAN (Dragonfly Eyes) by XU Bing, China, USA

Europa Cinemas Label                                                                                                       VINTERBRØDRE by Hlynur Pálmason, Danmark, Iceland

Junior Jury Awards First Prize                                                                                           VINTERBRØDRE by Hlynur Pálmason, Denmark, Iceland

Second Prize                                                                                                                                       LA TELENOVELA ERRANTE by Raúl Ruiz, Valeria Sarmiento, Chile

Third Prize                                                                                                                                   QING TING ZHI YAN (Dragonfly Eyes) by XU Bing, China, USA

Environment is Quality of Life» Prize                                                                                                   WAJIB by Annemarie Jacir, Palestine

Special Mention                                                                                                                                   DID YOU WONDER WHO FIRED THE GUN? by Travis Wilkerson, USA

The Cinema & Gioventù Jury for the Concorso Cineasti del presente                                         SASHISHI DEDA (Scary Mother) by Ana Urushadze, Georgia, Estonia

Special Mention                                                                                                                             CHO-HAENG (The First Lap) by Kim Dae-Kwan, South Korea

The Cinema & Gioventù Jury for the Pardi di domani section Best International Short Film VYPUSK 97 by Pavlo Ostrikov, Ukraine

Best Swiss Short Film (ex aequo)                                                                                           KUCKUCK by Aline Höchli, Switzerland                                                                             PARADES by Sarah Arnold, France, Switzerland

Premio FICC/IFFS (International Federation of Film Societies)                                                     Don Quijote Prize                                                                                                                       WAJIB by Annemarie Jacir, Palestine

Semaine de la critique SRG SSR                                                                                         Prize/Semaine de la critique                                                                                                 DRUĊ½INA (The Family) by Rok Bicek, Slovenia, Austria                    

Premio Zonta Club Locarno                                                                                                   SEÑORITA MARÍA, LA FALDA DE LA MONTAÑA by Rubén Mendoza, Colombia

Residency Internationale Kurzfilmtage Winterthur @ Villa Sträuli»                                           PRADEEPAN RAVEENDRAN, Open Doors Screenings, Sri Lanka

Premio Audentia di Eurimages                                                                                                   MILLA by Valerie Massadian, France, Portugal

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