Road movie takes top prize at Solothurn film festival

Azzurro took top honours at the Solothurn film festival Keystone

The top prize for Swiss films has gone to director Denis Rabaglia's road movie "Azzurro". The country's mini versions of the Oscars were handed out on Wednesday at the Solothurn film festival.

Rabaglia’s film tells the story of a retired Italian who worked for 30 years as a seasonal worker in Geneva. The old man returns to Switzerland to find funds to pay for an operation for his blind granddaughter.

The movie, which was a long time in the making and went through the hands of a few producers, has already received a number of awards outside Switzerland.

The film is Rabaglia’s second full-length feature, after “Grossesse nerveuse” (Nervous pregnancy). It managed to attract only a few moviegoers in French-speaking Switzerland, but it is yet to be released in other parts of the country.

Four other prizes were handed out in Solothurn. Bruno Ganz was chosen as best actor for his role as a melancholic and romantic waiter in “Pane e tulipani”.

In the women’s category, top honours went to Sabine Timoteo for her role as an underage prostitute in “L’amour, l’argent, l’amour” (Love, money, love).

Sabine Gisiger’s and Marcel Zwingli’s “Do it” carried off the prize for best documentary. Their film tells the story of three Zurich natives and their revolutionary idealism during the 1970s.

Anna Luif was awarded the prize for best short film with “Summertime”, a story about a 13-year-old’s discovery of love and adolescent revolt.

swissinfo with agencies