Hollywood
Director from the Philippines bags top prize at Locarno, dedicates it to father
NEW DELHI: Filipino director Lav Diaz’s five-and-a-half-hour epic ‘From What is Before Mula’ received the top prize at the 67th Locarno Film Festival.
The 338-minute black-and-white film, about life in a rural village two years before the government declared martial law in 1972, won the Golden Leopard for best film. The award comes with a cash prize of $ 99,700 which will be shared equally between Diaz and his producer.
The film, which has the Filipino title ‘Mula sa kung ano ang noon’, also picked up the FIPRESCI International Critics Prize, the Environment is Quality of Life Prize, and the International Federation of Film Societies’ (IFFS) Don Quixote Prize.
The film also won the top prize at the World Premiere Film Festival in Manila last month.
Alex Ross Perry’s ‘Listen Up Philip’ won the Special Jury Prize, Portugal’s Pedro Costa won the Best Director Leopard for ‘Cavalo Dinheiro ‘and Brazil’s ‘August Winds’ received a special mention.
The international competition jury was headed by Italy’s Gianfranco Rosi and also included Chinese director Diao Yi’nan, filmmaker Thomas Arslan, as well as actresses Alice Braga and Connie Nielson. Diaz was the president of last year’s international competition jury in Locarno.
The two other Asian winners in this year’s festival were both in the Best First Feature section. ‘Songs from the North’, a documentary by the South Korean filmmaker Yoo Soon-mi won the Leopard for the Best First Feature. France-based Japanese filmmaker Sawada Masa also received a special mention for ‘I, Kamikaze’.
Hollywood
Iger’s final act: Disney boss wraps up epic saga with a new captain at the helm
After 15 turbulent years, two stints in the c-suite, and billions spent on blockbuster acquisitions, Bob Iger is stepping away from the Magic Kingdom.
CALIFORNIA: The 75-year-old chief, hailed as one of the most transformative leaders in modern media, officially hands over to former parks chief Josh D’Amaro on 18 March. And this time, he’s getting the succession right.
Iger’s legacy glitters with big bets and epic wins: the $7.4bn Pixar buy, $4bn Marvel swoop, and the colossal $71bn 21st Century Fox deal. He dragged Disney into the streaming age, fought off activist investor Nelson Peltz, and saw off a political scrap with Florida governor Ron DeSantis.
But it hasn’t all been pixie dust. The forced return of Iger in 2022—after the short, shaky reign of successor Bob Chapek—tarnished an otherwise stellar run.
Now, D’Amaro takes the wheel with a streamlined leadership team and Disney firing on all cylinders. The firm’s streaming business is in the black, theme-park attendance is soaring, and five global films have hit $1billion at the box office in the past two years. Not bad for a firm that was on the ropes just months ago.
D’Amaro’s first move? A slick reorg under new president and chief creative officer Dana Walden, folding film, tv, streaming and gaming into one punchy unit. Sean Shoptaw, heading up the gaming division, now reports directly to Walden—bringing Fortnite and Epic Games collaborations closer to Disney’s creative heart.
Iger isn’t sailing off into the sunset just yet. He’ll keep busy with Angel City FC, the women’s football club he owns with his wife. And as Ann Mooney Murphy of Stevens Institute predicts: “A guy like that never truly retires.”
One era ends. Another begins. And the House of Mouse bets big on a future beyond the king.
