The 53rd Locarno Film Festival was held from 2 to 12 August 2000 in Locarno, Switzerland.[1] There were 18 films in competition. The opening film of the festival was the international premiere of X-Men directed by Bryan Singer.[1][2] The Leopard of Honor was awarded to Paul Verhoeven, for his cinematic career, and his film Hollow Man had its European premiere on the Piazza Grande, the 10,000 seat open-air theater.[3] A section called "Kings of the B's" was held to celebrate B-movies.[1]
This was artistic director Marco Mueller's last year at the festival. After 9 years as the head of the festival Mueller left to become a film producer. Upon leaving he said it was hard to have a festival niche between big Hollywood summer releases and art house cinema, especially when losing out on films to the Venice Film Festival.[4]Derek Elley of Variety remarked that, "Muller failed in his ambition to turn the well-regarded but basically eggheady Euro art-movie event into a glitzy fest to rival Venice."[5] This was also the last year for recently hired festival president Giuseppe Buffi, who died two weeks before the opening night.[5] In a closed meeting the day following Buffi's death, Mueller told the festival committee he would be resigning.[5]
The Golden Leopard, the festival's top prize, was awarded to Father directed by Wang Shuo.[6][7][4] The film was completed in 1996, but was banned by the Chinese government. Locarno artistic director, Marco Mueller arranged to smuggle the only English subtitled print out of China for the festival.[8]Baba (Father) had its world premiere at Locarno and was shown without any prior advertising as a surprise film.[4]
Official Jury
Official International Jury
Naum Klejman, Jury president, Soviet film scholar and critic[4]
The Concorso Cineasti del Presente, also known as the Filmmakers of the Present Competition, showcases first and second feature films from emerging filmmakers[11]
Another Story of Soviet Cinema (Une autre Histoire du Cinéma soviétique 1926 - 1968) featured banned Soviet film and un-cut director editions in addition to seven different opening segments of Sergei Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin.[3] It was also advertised as the "The Unknown Forbidden Soviet Cinema 1926 - 67"[12]
The Semaine de la Critique is an independent section, created in 1990 by the Swiss Association of Film Journalists in partnership with the Locarno Film Festival.[13]
Silver Leopard:Xilu Xiang directed by Fruit CHAN, Manila directed by Romuald Karmakar
Bronze Leopard: Sabine Timoteo in L AMOUR, L ARGENT, L AMOUR directed by Philip Gröning, Ulrike Beimpold, Sonja Romei, Birgit Doll, Joachim Bissmeier, Josef Hader, Roland Düringer in DER ÜBERFALL directed by Florian Flicker
Official Jury Prize:Gostanza Da Libbiano directed by Paolo Benvenuti
Special Mention, Official Jury: BRONX-BARBÈS directed by Eliane de Latour, No Quarto Da Vanda directed by Pedro Costa
Piazza Grande
Prix du Public UBS:Hollow Man directed by Paul Verhoeven
Leopards of Tomorrow Competition
SRG SSR idée Suisse Prize and Egli Film Prize, New Swiss Talents, Leopards of Tomorrow, (Short Films):Summertime directed by Anna Luif
"Action Light" Prize, New Swiss Talents, Leopards of Tomorrow, (Short Films):Lignes De Fuite directed by Léo Maillard
Eastman Kodak Company Prize, New Swiss Talents, Leopards of Tomorrow, (Short Films):Tout Est Bien directed by Vincent Pluss
Special Mention, New Swiss Talents, Leopards of Tomorrow, (Short Films):La Bouee directed by Bruno Deville
Film und Video Subtitling Prize, Spanish Films, Leopards of Tomorrow, (Short Films):El Trabajo directed by Igor Legarreta and Emilio Pérez
Special Mention, Spanish Films, Leopards of Tomorrow, (Short Films):En Malas COMPAÑIAS directed by Antonio Hens
Youth Jury (Cinema e Gioventù) - Main Competition
First Prize, Youth Jury:No Quarto Da Vanda
Second Prize, Youth Jury:Baba directed by Shuo Wang, Mua Oi directed by Nhat Minh Dang
"The environnement is the quality of life" Prize":Cronicamente Inviavel directed by Sérgio Bianchi
"Euro>26" Prize:101 Reykjavik directed by Baltasar Kormákur
Special Mention, Youth Jury:Gostanza Da Libbiano directed by Paolo Benvenuti
Youth Jury (Cinema e Gioventù) – Leopards of Tomorrow
Youth Jury Prize, New Swiss Talents, Short Films:Summertime directed by Anna Luif
Youth Jury Prize, New Spanish Talents, Short Films:Disertaciones Sobre Una Coliflor directed by Carmen Conesa
Special Mention, Youth Jury, New Spanish Talents, Short Films:Bancos directed by Santi Amodeo and Alberto Rodriguez
Video Competition Jury
Video Golden Leopard, Sony Prize:Les Yeux FERMÉS directed by Olivier Py
Video Silver Leopard, Sony Prize, Long Format:Puisi Tak Terkuburkan directed by Garin Nugroho
Ecumenical Jury
Oecumenical Jury Prize:Baba directed by Shuo Wang
FIPRESCI Jury
FIPRESCI Prize:Hotaru directed by Naomi Kawase
FICC Jury
FICC/IFFS Prize:Mua Oi directed by Nhat Minh Dang
Special Mention, FICC/IFFS Jury:Baba directed by Shuo Wang, No Quarto Da Vanda directed by Pedro Costa
SRG SSR idée suisse/Critic's Prize
SRG SSR idée Suisse Prize, Critics Week:Do It directed by Marcel Zwingli and Sabine Gisiger
Special Mention, Critics Week:Blue End directed by Kaspar Kasics
Source:[6][7]
References
^ a b cMassehian, Sarkis (14 July 2000). "'X-men' raising the curtain at 53rd Locarno". The Hollywood Reporter. Vol. 363, no. 45. pp. 6, 51.
^"FESTIVAL FOCUS: LOCARNO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL". Screen International. No. 1268. 21 July 2000. p. 24.
^ a bVivarelli, Nick (30 June 2000). "'Hollow' feeling for Verhoeven at Locarno fest". The Hollywood Reporter. Vol. 363, no. 37. pp. 16, 90.
^ a b c dVivarelli, Nick (14 August 2000). "'Baba' day at Locarno festival: Censored chinese film takes top prize; muller exits as fest chief". The Hollywood Reporter. Vol. 364, no. 17. pp. 6, 22.
^ a b cElley, Derek (August 2000). "Logjam at locarno". Variety. Vol. 380, no. 1. p. 38. Retrieved 16 July 2025.
^ a b"2000 Locarno Film Festival". Locarno Film Festival. Retrieved 8 April 2025.
^ a b"The Festival - Palmarès". Locarno Film Festival. Retrieved 15 April 2025.
^Elley, Derek (21–27 August 2000). "Film Reviews: Father (baba)". Variety. Vol. 380. p. 17.
^McCarthy, Todd (28 August 2000). "Inside Moves: The Trials of a Jurist at Locarno". Variety. Vol. 380. pp. 6, 128. Retrieved 17 July 2025.
^"Locarno Film Festival · All the films of the Locarno Film Festival..." Locarno Film Festival. Archived from the original on 7 April 2025. Retrieved 15 April 2025.
^"Concorso Cineasti del Presente". Locarno Film Festival. Retrieved 13 April 2025.
^"53rd locarno international film festival". Variety. Vol. 378, no. 12. 8 May 2000. pp. C75.
^"Semaine de la Critique". Locarno Film Festival. Retrieved 9 July 2024.
