Locarno. Awards.

Andrea Staka's debut feature, Das Fräulein (Cineuropa special), won the Golden Leopard at the Locarno International Film Festival this weekend. As Thomas Stephens reports for swissinfo, it was a dramatic fest both on screen and off. Two members of the jury stepped down: Barbara Albert, who co-wrote Das Fräulein with Staka "and hadn't considered it necessary to alert anyone to the fact," and Emmanuelle Devos, who "stood down citing personal reasons." The capper: "Frédéric Maire, the festival's artistic director, was watching the [awards] ceremony from his hospital bed, having collapsed on stage in front of 8,000 people on Friday night."

Other awards:

• Best direction: Laurent Achard for Le Dernier des Fous (The Last of the Madmen).

• The Special Jury Prize: Half Nelson.

• Best Actor: Burghart Klaussner for Der Mann von der Botschaft (The Man from the Embassy).

• Best Actress: Amber Tamblyn for Stephanie Daley.

The full list can be downloaded as a PDF.

Posted by dwhudson at August 14, 2006 4:35 AM