55th Locarno International Film Festival 
August 1st - August 11th 2002

Ecumenical Jury: Dalmazio Ambrosiani (Switzerland), Julienne N. Munyaneza (Ruanda), Linde Fröhlich (Deutschland), Carlo Tagliabue (Italy - President), Viviane Borderie (France), Peter Ciaccio (Italy)

The prize of the Ecumenical Jury goes to the film:  

La Cage
by Alain Raoust, France 2002

For ist coherent cinematic construction, but also because it underlines a painful but necessary process which hopes to achieve reconciliation as a crucial step towards a true, new life.

Special Mention: 

Diskoli apocheretismi: O baba mou,
by Penny Panayotopoulou, Greece/Germany 2002

Beause it confronts us with the reality of death as experienced by a young boy who, step by step and thanks to his inner vision, learns to accept what seemed unacceptable.

Locarno 2002
Report by Julienne N Munyaneza

To the joy of the organisers, the 55th Locarno international film festival (which took place 1-11 August 2002) was re-classified in the general festivals category, which puts them into the same bracket as Cannes and Venice. But this also means that they will compete for films with them, Cannes being a few months before and Venice one month later. According to the Festival Director, this year’s festival was unique because of its "special mix of curiosity, passion, a resolute desire to explore and seek out what is not obvious, friendliness, informality, whilst masking effort with style".

The Official Jury was composed of seven people, whose president was Cedomir Kolar, a producer from Serbia/France. It included Bruno Ganz, the well known Swiss actor, but only one woman, Nelofer Pazira, from Afghanistan/Canada. Amazingly the Ecumenical Jury never met the Official Jury, although at some viewing sessions the Ecumenical Jury sat behind the International Jury.

The presence of an Ecumenical Jury at the Locarno Film Festival began in 1973. Over two decades, its prizes have been awarded to directors who "have shown genuine artistic talent and succeeded to express actions or human experiences that comply with the Gospel, or to sensitise viewers to spiritual, human or social values."

This year, the Ecumenical Jury at this rich cultural event was composed of three men and three women from five different countries: Carlo Tagliabue (Italy) president of the Jury; Peter Ciaccio (Italy); Dalmazio Ambrosioni (Switzerland); Linde Fröhlich (Germany); Viviane Borderie (France); and Julienne Munyaneza (Rwanda/Great Britain). The working language was French although Italian, German and English were also used.

The Ecumenical Jury was asked to view 22 films in competition and four documentaries in the Semaine de la Critique – (Critics’ Week). Although there was a good selection of films in competition, remarkably none would really qualify as outstanding. Maybe that’s why, to the great surprise and disappointment of the Ecumenical Jury, press and public, the Official Jury awarded the Golden Leopard to one of the German films Das Verlangen (The Longing), a film the Ecumenical Jury and the German press considered to be in bad taste!

A general criticism of the Festival is that there were too many films to view, some of them only repeated once or not at all, or shown in small places with only a hundred seats. Some newspapers also criticised the fact that, although Locarno is classified as an ‘A’ festival, many stars whose films were being featured and who would have made an effort to attend Berlin or Cannes, did not bother to visit Locarno. Not even Al Pacino, whose movie Insomnia attracted the largest number of viewers (about 11,000 people) to its screening in the famous open air Piazza Grande.

In general terms and without setting too specific or rigid limits, one would be tempted to say that most of the competition films dealt mainly with issues of living or surviving, with a particular emphasis on family life, relationships between parents and children, or peers, or partners. In short, the search for personal fulfilment.
Take for example Tan de Repente (Suddenly) by Diego Lerman (Argentina). It "focuses on relationships with other people and their transformations as seen via a journey" undertaken by six characters where, in a process of tentative reaching out and confrontation, initial distrust is replaced by a relationship of complicity and tenderness. In the film all the characters change for the better and grow. Tan de Repente won the Silver Leopard, the second prize of the Official Jury, and the Don Quijote Prize of the FICC Jury.

Meisje (A Girl) by Dorothee Van den Berghe (Belgium) tackled relationships between people of different generations. It "charts the complex and problematic relationships between parent and child and portrays three women at key moments in their lives. In turn, they become, quite unconsciously, a kind of catalyst for one another." There was a kind of new beginning for each one at the end of the film. The mother was there when she was really needed by her daughter and the fact that they finally talked about their fears to each other was the start of a new life. Meisje won the first prize of the Junior Jury, the CICAE/ARTE Prize.

Oltre Il Confine (Beyond the Border) by Rolando Colla (Switzerland) explores situations where different nationalities and destinies meet with each other because of war; where illegal immigrants face the problem of prison, harassment and/or repatriation; where they try to overcome a variety of borders, country, language, generations, cultures and personal experiences. According to the director, the film "is an attempt to preserve a record, a record which relates as much to the war in Bosnia as it does to the World War Two." All wars are bad and their effect is still felt years after they are over. Horrific memories remain indelible.

In Secretary by Steven Shainberg (USA) some scenes are shockingly overdone when "a sado-masochistic love affair blossoms between the boss and his hapless new employee." The viewer comes face to face with the daily working relationships between a secretary and her boss, going to extreme lengths to please or attract attention. Surprisingly, their relationship became an act of healing for both. Aime ton Père (Love your Father) by Jacob Berger (France), is a typical family drama in which father and son are estranged. The father is feared but also admired, loved without knowing how to express that love. ‘"Although it is indeed about settling scores, the price father and son have to pay for their freedom is an exhausting confrontation between their respective perceptions of the past." Many sentiments are expressed: feigned politeness, regrets and reproaches, violence and anger. The director commented, "Aime ton Père is intended as an energetic and educational entertainment for all those boys who have wanted, at one time or another, to kill their father. But also for all those little girls who have believed, that one day, they will be able to marry him." But the strongest lesson is the search for reconciliation.

Gerry by Gus Van Sant (USA) shows two young men, bearing the same name, two carefree friends "on a sudden whim, a desire to enjoy their freedom for a moment by losing themselves in nature." They wander aimlessly in the desert, walk together, near each other, or apart from each other, one behind the other, slowly or quickly. In good or bad weather they never give up. In the middle of nowhere, they still joke and laugh at themselves. Then they realise that they are lost, can’t retrace their steps back to their car. They are very hungry and thirsty. "Suddenly thrust into a survival situation, isolated in a sublime and deeply hostile desert, they yearn for the civilised comfort they wanted to escape."

Mr. and Mrs. Iyer by Aparna Sen (India) is a story of an ordinary woman, Meenakshi Iyer, travelling with her son by bus back to her husband after visiting her parents. On the same bus travels an ordinary man, a wildlife photographer, Raja Chowdhury, who was introduced to the woman and was asked to help her during the bus journey - which he did gladly. The journey is a pleasant one, without incident until "the bus is stopped by an angry mob of Hindu extremists on the prowl for Muslims. They are out to avenge the burning of a Hindu village." Raja, a Muslim, is in real danger. Confronted by violence and horror, Meenakshi, an orthodox Hindu, saves his life by lying to the extremists that she and Raja are a married Hindu couple. In the face of peril, what started as a 'Good Samaritan' act develops into a mutual attraction, and life is more valued than religion and other traditions. "Humanity reshapes their old, conventional beliefs and religious differences are soon forgotten."

Man, Taraneh, Panzdah Sal Daram, (I’m Taraneh, 15) by Rassul Sadr-Ameli (Iran) tackles the issue of young girls who become pregnant and are ostracised by the rest of society. The simple solution agreeable to all is to abort or give away the baby. In this particular film the heroine, abandoned by her fiancé while she is pregnant, with a father in prison, does neither. She keeps the baby, fights for her own and her baby’s rights and survival. By so doing, Taraneh has to bear alone the weight of social scorn, without protection and support in a hostile environment. Taraneh won the prize for best actress.

Ecumenical Jury prizes

The two movies which won the Ecumenical Jury’s prize and special mention were respectively La Cage (The Cage) by Alain Raoust (France), and Diskoli Apocheretismi: O Babas Mou (Hard Goodbyes, My Father) by Penny Panayotopoulou (Greece). The Jury had a hard time choosing between the two. Both films met the set criteria because they contain very profound messages reflecting the Gospel (more obviously in Diskoli Apocheretismi and more subtly in La Cage).

La Cage won the prize for its "coherent cinematic/cinematographic construction, but also because it underlines a painful but necessary process which hopes to achieve reconciliation, as a crucial step towards a true new life." It was rewarding to see that the FIPRESCI Jury (Presse Cinématographique) had unanimously awarded their prize to the same film and almost for the same reasons: "for its cinematographic expression which relies more on images than on words in creating a young woman’s portrait in search of inner peace, after having committed a crime."

The main character, Anne Verrier, 25 years, who spent seven years in prison for homicide, embarks on a journey of social integration, self-discovery and self-understanding, before she can face the father of her victim to make peace and reconcile with him. "At the end of their bitter duel, an impossible encounter, both have found new resources with which to escape the cage that had imprisoned them." Along Anne’s journey, we see different people, be they the judge or her boss, or even her family attempting to facilitate her integration but without success. Anne has one goal in mind, to release herself from her past before confronting the future. The director purposely reversed the classical order in which the victimised person (Jacques Delieu, father of the deceased young man) pursues the victimiser (Anne Verrier) for revenge. In La Cage, the killer takes the first step to find the wronged party for a confrontation hoping against hope for reconciliation. In itself, Anne Verrier demonstrated rare courage. Her action led to a kind of freedom for both of them

Diskoli Apocheretismi: O Babas Mou was given a special mention because "it confronts us with the reality of death as experienced by a young boy who, step by step and thanks to his inner vision, learns to accept what seemed unacceptable." Elias, the main character, played by Giorgos Karayannis, won the prize for best actor. In the film, his father dies when Elias is only 10. He is left with his mother and older brother but also uncle and grandmother. Each one tries to cope with their loss. Not Elias. Because he cannot grasp what has happened, he refuses to accept that his father is gone forever. He keeps waiting for his father’s return from one of his routine business trips.

Meanwhile, Elias uses his imagination to deal with the situation: "He lies, sends letters to his grandmother as though they are from his father. He continues to play their favourite games with him, acting out both roles of the game. And worst of all he is absolutely sure that his father will return as he had promised so that they can both watch the Americans’ landing on the moon for the first time on television." The landing on the moon takes place. Daddy cannot keep his promise. This is the only promise he did not keep. But little Elias grew up. It is only after this event that Elias admits to himself that his father is physically gone for good but very much alive in his mind. And now he can go through a period of mourning. One interesting comment by one jury member about this film was that in Europe it doesn’t often happen that a film is produced that pleases adults and children at the same time.

Middle East documentaries

A final word on the Critic’s Week. Considering the importance of events unfolding in the Middle East, three of the recommended documentaries were about that region: Guerre Sans Images, Algérie Je sais que tu sais (War without Images – Algeria I know that you know) portrays the prevailing situation in that country as seen and interpreted by Mohammed Soudani, a Swiss of Algerian origin. Gaza Strip by James Longley (USA) is a very vivid presentation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with special focus on its impact on young children and women. Some phrases were very revealing: "We throw stones to defend our homeland. What have we done to them? Arafat is a spy and all superpowers are traitors. If only God could send an avenging angel! I want to leave this life into Paradise. The only solution is to live apart. If it were up to me, I would change the whole world and the people in it. No country would have us, so where do we belong?" Rage born out of powerlessness was felt by all who spoke.

Lastly Forget Baghdad, by Samir, a Swiss born in Iraq, tells the story of Iraqi Jews, also known as the Oriental Jews. The documentary reveals the contradictory situations and feelings of those special Jews. The film was made after the Gulf War. Where do these people feel more at home? Who do they give their sympathies to? It told of a very complex situation indeed.