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Swiss claim victories at Cannes film festival

The Local
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Swiss claim victories at Cannes film festival
Promotional photo for the award-winning film, The Wonders.

The Swiss movie industry celebrated a couple of victories at the Cannes film festival, which wrapped up in the south of France over the weekend.

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French-Swiss film director Jean-Luc Godard won his first prize at the festival, although he had to share it with a 25-year-old Canadian.

Godard’s 3D film Goodbye to Language (Adieu au langage) collected the festival’s jury prize on Saturday, along with Montrealer Xavier Dolan’s Mommy.

Godard, 83, a resident of Rolle in the canton of Vaud, was not on hand to receive his trophy, which was picked up by film producer Alain Sarde.

Meanwhile, a Swiss co-production, The Wonders (Le meraviglie), directed by Italian Alice Rohrwacher, won the grand jury prize.

The autobiographical film about her family was co-produced by Ticino producer Tiziana Soudani (Amka Film Productions).

The 110-minute film was an Italian, Swiss and German co-production starring Italian film star Monica Belluci and Bern’s Sabine Timoteo.

“We all felt it was an incredible spiritual film (featuring) terrific performances,” juror Nicolas Winding Refn said at the press conference held after the awards ceremony on Saturday.

“I cried at the end," Refn said.

"I was taken into another world.”

“I am really happy that Switzerland is part of this success,” Soudani said in a statement.

“A wonderful sign for future productions from Switzerland”

Soudani and Rohrwacher, 30, earlier teamed up for the film, Rotten Tomatoes (Corpo celeste), which premiered in the “directors’ fortnight” section of the Cannes festival in 2011.

Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Winter Sleep, a 196-minute feature, won the Palme d’Or, the top prize at Cannes.

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