Locarno. Awards.

• The Golden Leopard for Best Film goes to Masahiro Kobayashi's The Rebirth. Related: Ray Bennett in the Hollywood Reporter.

• The Golden Leopard for the Best Film in an Alternate Section goes to Benedek Fliegauf's Tejút (Milky Way). Related: Boyd van Hoeij at european-films.net.

• The Silver Leopard, the Special Prize of the Jury, goes to Eugène Green, Pedro Costa and Harun Farocki for Memories. (Wow.)

• The Leopard for Best Direction goes to Philippe Ramos for Capitaine Achab. Related: Ray Bennett in the HR.

• The Leopard for Best Actress goes to Marián Ã?lvarez for her performance in Lo Mejor de mí.

• The Leopard for Best Actor goes to Michele Venitucci for Fuori Dalle Corde and Michel Piccoli for Sous les Toits de Paris. Related: Variety's Jay Weissberg.

• A Special Mention Leopard goes to Cho Sang-yoon for Boys of Tomorrow.

And an honorary, lifetime achievement sort of award has been presented to Hou Hsiao-Hsien.

The BBC reports that "British comedy Death at a Funeral, with real-life couple Matthew Macfadyen and Keeley Hawes, won the public prize." Related: John Clark talks with director Frank Oz for the Los Angeles Times.

More on all this from Jonny Leahan, who follows up on his first report from Locarno for indieWIRE, and from swissinfo.

"This year's Locarno International Film Festival has seen some fine performances especially by women," writes Ray Bennett. "Two of the best are by Guylaine Tremblay in Summit Circle and Lavinia Wilson in Free to Leave."

A few reviews that have been filed during the festival:

• "A set of linked crime vignettes, centred around a drab roadside cafeteria, I Always Wanted to Be a Gangster is a knowing spoof on the themes and structure of Pulp Fiction, but with a melancholic sweetness and lugubrious pacing that are much closer to Jim Jarmusch or Aki Kaurismäki," writes Jonathan Romney at Screen Daily. More from Ray Bennett in the Hollywood Reporter.

• "Shot in the Aures mountains, one of the more remote and arid regions of Algeria, The Yellow House is a worthy and particularly authentic representative of North African cinema," writes Dan Fainaru. More from Variety's Jay Weissberg. Also: Thieves (Ladrones), Summit Circle (Contre Toute Esperance) and Sooner or Later (Früher oder später).

• In Variety: Derek Elley on Extraordinary Rendition and Vexille, Jay Weissberg on Behave, Alissa Simon on About Crying, The Golden Helmet and Stages and more.

Posted by dwhudson at August 12, 2007 5:41 AM