Teen flick wins top prize at Locarno Film Festival

Two Lithuanian films picked up three of the top awards on the final day of the Locarno Film Festival Saturday.

"Toxic", a film about the bond between two teenage aspiring models seeking to escape their bleak home town, won the top prize.

The debut feature-length movie by Lithuania's Saule Bliuvaite saw off competition from 16 other films to win the Golden Leopard at Switzerland's largest film event.

Bliuvaite, at 30, was the youngest director competing for the Golden Leopard.

She said her film was about an age when people are in transition between childhood and adulthood, fitting in neither role.

"The sense of being stuck between two worlds and looking for direction is universal," the Lithuanian said.

The runner-up Special Jury Prize went to the Austrian movie "Mond", directed by Kurdwin Ayub.

And a second Lithuanian film "Drowning Dry", about sisters dealing with trauma, picked up two major awards.

Laurynas Bareisa won the best director's award while actors Gelmine Glemzaite, Agne Kaktaite, Giedrius Kiela, Paulius Markevicius picked up a collective best performance award.

"It's a huge thing for Lithuania," said Glemzaite.

"It's the first time in history that we got so lucky: two movies in one competition -- and three prizes," she said.

Kim Min-hee won the other best performance award, for her role in the South Korean movie "By The Stream", a drama set in a school.

"I find the film incredibly beautiful, and strangely touching my heart in a way that I can't explain," she said.

- 'King Khan' draws huge crowd -

This year's festival also honoured Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan, and directors Jane Campion and Alfonso Cuaron with special awards.

Films are shown in Locarno's central square on one of the largest screens in the world. The open-air Piazza Grande holds up to 8,000 moviegoers.

Bollywood superstar Khan, 58, was given the Pardo alla Carriera award for people whose artistic contributions have redefined cinema.

"So many people stuffed up in a little square and so hot: it's just like being home in India," he told the packed piazza.

"Awards like this encourage me to keep on trying to embody all the facets of life, to embody all the emotions," he said.

Mexican filmmaker Cuaron, who won the best director Oscars for "Gravity" (2013) and "Roma" (2018), received the lifetime achievement award.

"When I set out to do a film, it's pure instinct," he said.

"So, I'm not stopping to overthink things. I'm just trying to put them together and to realise the film I have slowly built in my head."

On choosing projects, he said: "With my current rate of making films, I honestly don't have that many more in me. So I decided, if I'm going to do something, it should be something that wouldn't be able to exist without me."

- Campion honoured -

New Zealand's Campion was recognised with the Leopard of Honour, given to outstanding personalities of world cinema.

"Filmmaking is all about making mistakes, trying stuff, learning. What's essential is that your enthusiasm must be greater than your fear," she said.

Campion won a best director Oscar for her 2021 film "The Power of the Dog", having already won one for best screenplay for her 1993 drama "The Piano".

Founded in 1946, Locarno is one of the world's longest-running annual film festivals and focuses on auteur cinema.

Held on the shores of Lake Maggiore, in the Italian-speaking Ticino region of southern Switzerland, nearly 150,000 people attended last year's festival.

The 77th festival, which began on August 7, featured 225 films, including 104 world premieres and 15 debut movies.