Brazilian director Júlia Murat
Four Latin American films—from Brazil, Costa Rica and Cuba—were the top winners at the 75th annual edition of the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland. Brazilian director Júlia Murat won the Golden Leopard for Best Film for her third feature Rule 34 / Regra 34, while Costa Rican director Valentina Maurel was the winner of Pardo Award for Best Director for her debut feature Tengo sueños eléctricos, which also was presented with the Pardo Awards for Best Actor and Best Actress, for Reinaldo Amien Gutiérrez and Daniela Marín Navarro, respectively.
In the short film competition the Brazilian film Big Bang by Carlos Segundo was the winner of the Pardino d’oro Swiss Life for the Best Auteur Short Film, and the Cuban film Sovereign / Soberane by Brazilian director Wara was presented with the Pardino d’oro for the Best International Short Film.
Rule 34 tells the story of Simone, a young law student who finds a passion for defending women in abuse cases. Yet her own sexual interests lead her to a world of violence and eroticism. Locarno’s Golden Leopard Award comes with a cash prize of CHF 75,000 (approximately 79,600 USD)., which is shared equally between the director and producer Tatiana Leite.
Murat’s win marks the sixth time that a Latin American director wins the top honors in the 75th editions of the Swiss film festival after the Brazilian director Glauber Rocha for Land in Anguish in 1967, the Chilean director Raúl Ruiz for Three Sad Tigers in 1969, the Colombian director Rodrigo García for Nine Lives in 2005, the Mexican director Enrique Rivero for Parque Vía in 2008, and the Argentine director Milagros Mumenthaler for Back to Stay in 2011.
In Tengo sueños eléctricos, Eva’s mother wants to renovate the house and get rid of the cat, which, disoriented since the divorce, pees everywhere. Opposing her mom’s decision, Eva wants to go and live with her dad, who, disoriented like the cat, is experiencing a second adolescence. Like crossing an ocean of adults without knowing how to swim, Eva faces the rage that gnaws at her father, and now it’s eating at her too.
Maurel becomes the second female director and the second Latin American to win the Pardo Award for Best Director at Locarno after Chilean filmmaker’s Dominga Sotomayor’s historic win in 2018 for Too Late to Die Young / Tarde para morir joven. The Pardo Award for Best Director comes with a cash prize of CHF 20,000 (approximately 21,200 USD).
Additionally, the film It is Night in America / É Noite na América by Brazilian director Ana Vaz, received a Special Mention in the inaugural Pardo Verde WWF Award for Best Ecological Film. The 75th edition of the Locarno Film Festival took place August 3-13.
