Newcomer Saulė Bliuvaitė's bold exploration of friendship and body image in young women wins the top prize from both the International Competition Jury and the Debut Film Jury at the Swiss festival.
Lithuanians, explain! 🇱🇹 #memes #lithuania #lietuva
Lithuanian cinema, usually not well represented on the international film festival circuit, was the big story at this year's Locarno Film Festival awards ceremony, with two films from the Baltic country winning a number of top prizes together.
“Toxic,” a promising debut from writer-director Saulė Bareiša, not only won the Golden Leopard for Best Film in the festival’s main international competition—from a jury chaired by Austrian auteur Jessica Hausner—but also, in an unusual double, the top prize in the separately judged First Feature Competition. Bareiša’s compatriot Laurynas Bareiša, meanwhile, won Best Director in the international competition for his second feature, “Drowning Dry,” while the film’s ensemble also collectively won one of the jury’s gender-neutral acting awards.
The full story will follow later, with a complete list of winners below:
