South Korean drama Height Of The Wave, directed by Park Jung-bum, was awarded with a special jury prize in the international competition of this year’s Locarno film festival (August 7-17).
The film, which premiered at this year’s Jeonju International Film Festival, is Park’s third as director following The Journals Of Musan (2010) and Alive (2014). It follows a police officer who is dispatched to an island with her daughter following her divorce, where she becomes concerned by the strange relationship between an orphan and the island workers.
Portuguese director Pedro Costa was awarded the festival’s top honour, the Golden Leopard, for Vitalina Varela, which also took best actress for its star after whom the film is named. Best actor went to Regis Myrupu for The Fever by Brazilian filmmaker Maya Da-Rin.
The Leopard For Best Direction was awarded to French dancer turned filmmaker Damien Manivel for Les Enfants d’Isadora, which was co-produced by Jeonju International Film Festival.
Special mentions in the international competition went to The Science Of Fictions, directed by Indonesia’s Yosep Anggi Noen, and Maternal, from Italy’s Maura Delpero.
Japanese director Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s To The Ends Of The Earth played as the closing film of the festival on Saturday evening.