Indonesian director Edwin’s Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash was awarded the Golden Leopard at this year’s Locarno Film Festival (August 4-14).
The black comedy action drama is based on a novel written by Eka Kurniawan, who co-scripted the film with Edwin. Set in the 1980s, it revolves around a hired thug who suffers from erectile dysfunction. German sales agent The Match Factory and Fatih Akin’s Bombero International co-produced with production outfits in Singapore and Indonesia.
Other Asian award winners at the festival included Chinese filmmaker Qiu Jiongjiong’s A New Old Play, a three-hour long exploration of Chinese theatre and society, which took the special jury prize in the international competition.
Best director went to Abel Ferrara for Zeros And Ones, while Anastasiya Krasovskaya took best actress for her role in Russian filmmaker Natalya Kudryashova’s Gerda. Mohamed Mellali and Valero Escolar were jointly awarded best actor for The Odd-Job Men, directed by Catalan filmmaker Neus Ballús.
Special Mentions were awarded to Soul Of A Beast, from Swiss filmmaker Lorenz Merz, and Espíritu Sagrado, a co-production between Spain, France and Turkey, directed by Spanish filmmaker Chema García Ibarra.