Jia Zhangke To Receive Leopard of Honor At Upcoming Locarno Film Festival

Jia To Be Youngest Director To Receive Prestigious Swiss Award It's been an interesting year for the prominent Sixth Generation Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke. From attending a retrospective of his work at New York's Museum of Modern Art (where Jing Daily interviewed him) to jetting to France for the premiere of his new documentary I Wish I Knew at the Cannes Film Festival -- all while working on new projects like his first martial arts film, "In the Qing Dynasty" (在清朝) -- Jia has been a busy man. This week, it was announced that Jia's summer is going to get even busier this August, as he is slated to receive the prestigious Leopard of Honor (Pardo d’onore) at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland. From Variety, which points out that Jia, at 40 years of age, is the youngest director to receive the Leopard of Honor: "We are proud to pay homage to the immense talent of Jia Zhangke, a gripping auteur who, film after film, with great aesthetic rigor and an innate sense of time and space, gives us a unique outlook on China's deep changes," said Locarno artistic topper Olivier Pere. Locarno on Aug. 6 will screen Zhangke's "Platform," about a group of young theater and dance performers during China's 1980s cultural shift, in its 7,000-seat outdoor Piazza Grande, followed by his latest docu "I Wish I Knew," which recently unspooled in Cannes. Zhangke will also hold a masterclass at the fest. Past Leopard of Honor winners include Manoel de Oliveira, Chen Kaige, Ken Loach and William Friedkin. The 63rd Locarno Film Festival will run from August 4-14. More details are available on the event website.

Jia Zhangke To Receive Leopard of Honor At Upcoming Locarno Film Festival

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Published June 09, 2010

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Jia Zhangke To Receive Leopard of Honor At Upcoming Locarno Film Festival