Mexican film "Parque Via" wins top Locarno prize

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2008

LOCARNO, Switzerland (AFP) — Mexican film-maker Enrique Rivero on Saturday took home the top prize of Switzerland's Locarno Film Festival with his film "Parque Via," about a man who has put himself in voluntary seclusion.

Scooping up the Golden Leopard prize, Rivero's film features Beto, who has isolated himself in the empty house where he used to work as a servant, with his contacts limited to only two people.

With the house up for sale Beto -- who has developed a fear of the world outside -- is confronted with the dilemma of leaving or finding a way to remain in his self-imposed prison.

The special jury prize went to "33 Scenes from Life," by Polish Malgoska Szumowska, exploring the angst of a young woman coping with her mother's illness.

The award...