in Switzerland, Rivero's "Paraque Via" from Mexico Wins Locarno Fest's Top Prize

Enrique Rivero, winner of the top prize at the 61st Locarno International Film Festival. Image provided by the festival

Enrique Rivero won Mexico's first Golden Leopard as the 2008 Locarno International Film Festival came to a close this weekend. His first feature, "Paraque via," was awarded the top jury prize at the festival on Saturday night in Switzerland. The film also won the FIPRESCI critics award at the event. Garth Jennings' "Son of Rambow" won the fest's audience award.

Denis Cote from Canada won Locarno's best director award for "Elle Veut Le Chaos", while Fernand Melgar from Switzerland won the Filmmakers of the Present Competition for "La Forteresse" and Eva Randolph from Brazil won the International Leopoard of Tomorrow Competition for "Dez Elephants."

The Locarno fest saw a jump in admissions, hitting more than 123,000 this year. That is up from more than 117,000 last year, even though the event saw a drop in attendance of its outdoor Piazza Grande screenings due to rain on six nights of the festival.

Organizers boasted that five films from the fest's international competition were acquired for world sales during the event, including Federico Bondi's "Mar Nero" at Intramovies, Lionel Baier's "Un autre homme" at Wide Management, Kirill Serebrennikov's "Yuri's Day" at m-appeal, Young-seok Noh's "Daytime Drinking" at Finecut and Ozcan Alper's "Sonbahar/Autumn" at Medialuna.

The 61st Locarno International Film Festival came to a close last night with an outdoor Piazza Grande screening of Solveig Anspach's world premiere, "Back Soon." The film was awarded The Variety Piazza Grande Award for a fest premiere film that exhibits artistic qualities and also has the potential to secure a theatrical release.

List of winners:

Golden Leopard
"Paraque Via" by Enrique Rivero, Mexico
Special Jury Prize
"33 Scenes from Life" (33 Sceny Z Zycia) by Malgoska Szumowska, Germany/Poland

Best Director
for "Elle Veut Le Chaos" by Denis Cote, Canada

Leopard for Best Actress
Ilaria Occhini in "Mar Nero" by Federico Bondi, Italy/Romania/France

Leopard for Best Actor
Tayanc Ayaydin in "The Market - A Tale of Trade" by Ben Hopkins, Germany/UK/Turkey/Kazakhstan

C.P. Company Golden Leopard / Filmmakers of the Present Competition
"La Forteresse" by Fernand Melgar, Switzerland

Cine Cinema Special Jury Prize / Filmmakers of the Present Competition
"Alicia En El Pais" by Esteban Larrain, Chile

Leopard for the Best First Feature
"Marz" by Haendl Klaus, Austria (International Competition)

Golden Leopard
SRG SSR idee suisse Prize for the International Leopard of Tomorrow Competition
"Dez Elephantes" by Eva Randolph, Brazil

Silver Leopard
Eastman Kodak Company Prize for the International Leopard of Tomorrow
"Kaupunkilaisia" by Juho Kuosmanen, Finland

Golden Leopard
IKEA Prize for the Leopards of Tomorrow National Competition
"La Delogeuse" by Julien Rouyet, Switzerland

Silver Leopard
Eastman Kodak Company Prize for the Leopards of Tomorrow National Competition
"Un Dia y Nada" by Lorenz Merz, Switzerland

Prix du Public UBS
"Son of Rambow" by Garth Jennings, UK/France/Germany

Variety Piazza Grande Award
"Back Soon" by Solveig Anspach, Island/France