‘Thithi’ wins two awards at Locarno global Film Fest

The Kannada-language film marked the end of a dry spell of eight years since an Indian film has been selected in competition at the Locarno global Film Festival.

Right Now, Wrong Then is a romantic comedy that tells the same story twice, in which two characters meet up over the course of the same day.

Israel director Avishai Sivan took the special jury prize for Tikkun. “Thithi” also received a standing ovation after its first screening at the festival.

The award for best actress announced on August 15 went to Sachie Tanaka, 41, of Kobe; Hazuki Kikuchi, 37, of Kakogawa, Hyogo Prefecture; Maiko Mihara, 41, of Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture; and Rira Kawamura, 39, of Kyoto. They said they did not consider themselves to be real actresses. It also received a mention for best script for Hamaguchi.

Hong won the Best Director award at the same festival in 2013 for “Our Sunhi”.

The Special Jury Prize in Cinema of the Present was handed to Spanish director Marco Herce for his debut feature “Dead Slow Ahead“, while the First Feature jury also singled out Sina Ataelan Dena’s “Paradise” and Elena Khoreva’s “Kiev/Moscow”. And the prize for best emerging director went to China’s Gan Bi for Kaili Blues.

Davit Pirtskhalava’s short film Mama (father) achieved success in the Pardi di domani section that screened short and medium-length films by young independent amateur or film school students who have not yet tried their hand at feature films.

Brazilian director Sergio Machado’s The Violin Teacher closes the festival Saturday night.