The 59th Locarno Film Festival was held from 2 to 12 August 2006 in Locarno, Switzerland. The festival featured 172 films in total, with twenty one films in competition from seventeen different countries. The opening film was the European premiere of Miami Vice directed by Michael Mann. The closing film was the European premiere of Little Miss Sunshine directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris. The festival also held a retrospective of the work of Finnish director Aki Kaursimaki.
The Leopard of Honor was awarded to director Alexsander Sokurov for his career in cinema. William Dafoe attended the festival to receive the excellence award.
This was the first year with Frederic Marie as the new artistic director. On the last day Marie passed out while introducing the Little Miss Sunshine screening and ended the festival in the hospital, reportedly due to exhaustion. There was also a problem with jury when, on the final day, one juror, Barbara Albert, revealed they were a co-writer of a film in competition, Das Fräulein, which went on to win the Golden Leopard. Albert resigned from the jury and didn't take part in the vote.
The Golden Leopard, the festival's top prize, was awarded to Das Fräulein directed by Andrea Staka.
Official Jury There was a five-person jury who voted on the films in competition. There was originally seven on the jury, but two people resigned. Emmanuelle Devos, French Actress, Resigned Barbara Albert, writer, Resigned
Sections
The following films were screened in these sections:
Piazza Grande English Title Original Title Director(s) Year Production Country10 Insects To Feed Masbedo 2006 Italia The Lives of Others Das Leben Der Anderen Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck 2006 Germany Late Bloomers Die Herbstzeitlosen Bettina Oberli 2006 Switzerland Dead in 3 Days In Drei Tagen Bist Du Tot Andreas Prochaska 2006 Austria Days of Glory Indigènes Rachid Bouchareb 2006 France, Morocco, Algérie, BelgiumJeu Georges Schwizgebel 2006 Switzerland, Canada The Orchestra of Piazza Vittorio L'Orchestra Di Piazza Vittorio Agostino Ferrente 2006 Italia Carla's Liste La Liste De Carla Marcel Schüpbach 2006 Switzerland The Right of the Weakest La Raison Du Plus Faible Lucas Belvaux 2006 France, Belgium Lights in the Dusk Laitakaupungin Valot Aki Kaurismäki 2006 Finland, Germany, FranceLittle Miss Sunshine Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris 2006 USAMiami Vice Michael Mann 2006 USA My Brother Is Getting Married Mon Frère Se Marie Jean-Stéphane Bron 2006 Switzerland, FranceNeil Young: Heart of Gold Jonathan Demme 2006 USANomad Sergei Bodrov, Ivan Passer 2006 Kazakhstan Quale Amore Maurizio Sciarra 2006 Italia, SwitzerlandRachel (Short) Frédéric Mermoud 2006 France, Switzerland Russian Ark Russkij Kovcheg Alexander Sokurov 2002 Germany, RussiaSeverance Christopher Smith 2006 Great Britain, Hungary Crossing Borders Un Franco, 14 Pesetas Carlos Jglesias 2006 Spain
International Competition Highlighted title indicates Golden Leopard winner Original Title English Title Director(s) Year Production Country Agua Verónica Chen 2006 Argentina, France Black Eyed Dog Pierre Gang 2006 Canada Body Rice Hugo Vieira da Silva 2006 Portugal Chahar Shanbeh Souri Asghar Farhadi 2006 Iran Das Fräulein Andrea Štaka 2006 Switzerland, Germany Der Mann Von Der Botschaft The Man from the Message Dimitri Tsintsadze 2006 Germany Dies D'Agost August Days Marc Recha 2006 Spain El Benny Jorge Luis Sánchez 2006 Cuba, Spain, Great Britain Fu Sheng Zhimin Sheng 2006 China Gefangene Prisoner Iain Dilthey 2006 Germany, Austria Half Nelson Ryan Fleck 2005 USA Hirtia Va Fi Albastra The Paper will be Blue Radu Muntean 2006 Romania Jimmy Della Collina Jimmy of the Hill Enrico Pau 2006 Italia Le Dernier Des Fous The Last of the Madmen Laurent Achard 2006 France, Belgium Mare Nero Black Sea Roberta Torre 2006 Italia, France Mnogotochie Multitude Andrei A. Eshpai 2006 Russia Nae-Chungchun-Aegae-Goham Young-Nam Kim 2006 South Korea, Japan Stephanie Daley Hilary Brougher 2006 USA Suzanne Viviane Candas 2006 France The Lives Of The Saints Chris Cottam, Rankin 2006 Great Britain Ça Rend Heureux It Makes you Happy Joachim Lafosse 2006 Belgium, Italia
Filmmakers of the Present The Concorso Cineasti del Presente, also known as the Filmmakers of the Present Competition, showcases first and second feature films from emerging filmmakers.
Filmmakers of the Present - In Competition
Highlighted title indicates Filmmakers of the Present winner Original Title English Title Director(s) Year Production Country About Love Darezhan Omirbaev 2006 South Korea Acidente Accident Cao Guimarães, Pablo Lobato 2006 Brazil Car Wash Pascal Rambert 2005 France Chand Kilo Khorma Baraye Marassem-E Tadfin The Kingdom of the Kingdom Birth Khort Birth Birth Birth Birthday Saman Salour 2006 Iran Drifting Paradise Chun-Hsiung Wang 2006 Thailand Fragments Sur La Grâce Fragments on Grace Vincent Dieutre 2006 France, Belgium Germanium No Yoru The Night of the Gelloma Tatsushi Ōmori 2005 Japan Kilnieks Laila Pakalnina 2006 Latvia, Estonia, Slovenia Kythera Péter Mészáros 2006 Hungary L'Année Suivante The Following Year Isabelle Czajka 2006 France L'Étrangère Foreigner Florence Colombani 2006 France, Portugal La Silla The Chair Julio D. Wallovits 2005 Spain La Vraie Vie Est Ailleurs Real Life is Elsewhere Frédéric Choffat 2006 Switzerland Le Dernier Homme The Last Man Ghassan Salhab 2006 France, Lebanon Les Mains D'Andréa Andréa's Hands Sébastien Betbeder 2006 France Love Story Kelvin Tong 2006 Singapour, Hong Kong No Day Off Eric Khoo 2006 South Korea Rabia Oscar Cardenas 2006 Chile Schopenhauer 2006 Italia So Lange Du Hier Bist As Long as you are Here Stefan Westerwelle 2006 Germany Sotto La Stessa Luna Under the Same Moon Carlo Luglio 2005 Italia Street Thief Malik Bader 2006 USA Tarachime Naomi Kawase 2006 Japan, France The Giant Buddhas Christian Frei 2005 Switzerland Twelve Twenty Pen-ek Ratanaruang 2006 South Korea Verfolgt Hounded Angelina Maccarone 2006 Germany Who is Haoran Yishu Yang 2006 China Wild Tigers I Have Known Cam Archer 2005 USA
Filmmakers of the Present - Out of Competition Original Title English Title Director(s) Year Production Country Camicie Verdi Green Shirts Claudio Lazzaro 2006 Italia Celui Qui Aime A Raison The One Who Loves is Right Arnold Pasquier 2005 France Don Chisciotte E... Don Quixote and ... Bruno Bigoni 2006 Italia Début Beginning Pascal Rambert 2006 France Feltrinelli Alessandro Rossetto 2006 Italia, Switzerland, Germany Habana - Arte Nuevo De Hacer Ruinas Havana - New Art of Making Ruins Florian Borchmeyer, Matthias Hentschler 2006 Germany Il Faut Aimer Son Prochain, Les Autres Sont Trop Loin You Have to Love your Neighbor, the Others are Too Far Arnold Pasquier 2006 France Il Était Une Fois... Les Délices Du Petit Monde Once Upon a Time ... the Delights of the Little World Joseph Péaquin 2006 Italia Jour Après Jour Day after Day Jean-Paul Fargier 2006 France La Consultation Consultation Hélène De Crécy 2006 France La Traductrice The Translator Elena Hazanov 2006 Switzerland, Russia Las Camas Solas The Beds Alone Sandra Gomez 2006 Switzerland Les Signes Signs Eugène Green 2006 France No Body Is Perfect Raphael Sibilla 2005 France Quand Nous Étions Punk When We Were Punk Pascal Rambert 2005 France Qué Viva Mauricio Demierre What Does Mauricio Demierre Live Stéphane Goël 2006 Switzerland Rule Of Law - Justiz Im Kosovo Rule of Law - Justice in Kosovo Susanne Brandstätter 2006 Austria The Bimo Records Rui Yang 2006 China Toyen Jan Němec 2005 Czech Republic Tv Junkie Michael Cain, Matt Radecki 2005 USA Tête D'Or Head of Gold Gilles Blanchard 2006 France
Open Doors
Open Doors - South East Asia Original Title English Title Director(s) Year Production Country 0.1875 Tan Royston 2006 Singapour A Tree in Tanjung Malim Tan Chui Mui 2005 Malaysia Be with Me Eric Khoo 2005 Singapour Beautiful Boxer Ekachai Uekrongtham 2003 Thailand Blissfully Yours Apichatpong Weerasethakul 2002 Thailand, France Company of Mushrooms Tan Chui Mui 2006 Malaysia Eliana, Eliana Riri Riza 2001 Indonesia Letter to an Angel Garin Nugroho 1993 Indonesia Monday Morning Glory Ming jin Woo 2005 Malaysia One Night Husband Pimpaka Towira 2003 Thailand Perth Djinn 2004 Singapour Princess of Mount Ledang Teong Hin Saw 2004 Malaysia South of South Tan Chui Mui 2006 Malaysia Tears of the Black Tiger Wisit Sasanatieng 2000 Thailand The Beautiful Washing Machine James Lee 2004 Malaysia, South Korea The Rainmaker Ravi Bharwani 2004 Indonesia Whispering Sands Nan Triveni Achnas 2001 Indonesia, Japan
Leopards of Tomorrow Leopards of Tomorrow (Pardi di Domani)
Eastern Mediterranean Competition