Best Direction: F.J. Ossang for 9 Doigts
“Cinema is life dreaming about reality”, director F.J. Ossang said during the press conference of 9 Doigts in Locarno. Spending his life between Toulouse and Paris, Ossang is a real multimedia artist, active in the fields of literature, music and of course, cinema. “I try to surprise myself and drive into unknown territories”, he said, and the surprise for the Locarno Festival audiences was 9 Doigts, a mix of old and new suggestions in a noir trance, a road movie between France and Portugal, picking elements of classic cinema and graphic novels. The fifth feature length film for Ossang – but there have been also several short films, including Silencio, which won the prix Jean-Vigo in 2007, with music from Throbbing Gristle – arrived in competition with a clear idea of what a film should bring to the public.
The former leader of the punk band DDP («De la Destruction Pure») and student of prestigious Paris film school IDHEC has joined many illustrious colleagues in the Locarno palmarès.