Locarno Film Festival Awards

[Roland Domenig]

Suwa Nobuhiro’s UN COUPLE PARFAIT has been awarded the Special Jury Price of the 58th Locarno Film Festival. The film, shot in France, was also awarded with the CICAE/ARTE price for „the universal reflection on the life of a couple, which is sensitive, complex and far from all clichés (the framework, the lighting, the duration, the actors, the dialogue). Finally, as with all great cinema,the work gives the spectator an active role and freedom of interpretation.“

In addition, Watai Takeharu’s Iraq war documentary LITTLE BIRD was awarded the new Human Rights Award for „the immense courage, intellectual honesty and cinematic strength with which it reveals the absurdity of an unjustified war in which innocent people pay the highest price.“   

The Netpac Award for the promotion of Asian cinema went to HAO DUO DA MI (So much rice) by Li Hongqi from China, the Netpac Spezial Jury Award to THE RISING – BALLAD OF MANGAL PANDEY by Ketan Mehta from India. 

It is interesting that both award winning films from Japan were shot outside of Japan with topics that do not directly relate to Japan. Is this a confirmation of Japanese cinema’s internationality or just another affirmation of the uselessness of national boundaries?

Roland Domenig
Institute of East Asian Studies
Vienna University

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