The Future is Female at Locarno Pro as ‘Mother Vera,’ ‘No Ifs or Buts,’ ‘Pas Ta Maman’ Scoop Awards
variety.comMarta Balaga It was a good day for female filmmakers – and documentaries – at Locarno Pro, with “Mother Vera” by Cécile Embleton and Alys Tomlinson winning the Creativity Media First Look Award on Sunday at Locarno’s pix-in-post competition, dedicated this year to the U.K.
Dedicated to a young Orthodox nun, “Mother Vera” shows her turbulent past and fragile future as she faces inner conflict after 20 years as a monastic. “From the opening moments of this film, we were immediately drawn to the strikingly photographed stark portrait of a fascinating nun in Belarus who makes a journey to France,” said jurors Ava Cahen, Gaia Furrer and Eugene Hernandez.
The award covers post production services up to the value of €50,000 ($55,000). Laura Shacham produces “Mother Vera” for She Makes Productions.
While six UK works-in-progress were selected for the 12th edition of the First Look initiative, another doc, Sarah Lewis’ “No Ifs or Buts” – about London’s barbershop-turned-cultural hub “Cuts” – ended up picking up Jannuzzi Smith Award (€8,500: $9,370) and Le Film Français Award (€5,600: $6,200). “‘Cuts’ has never been just about the haircut, but a place where people would go to connect and create,” she told Variety.
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