(Geneva) The film by Brazilian Julia Murat, Regra 34 (Rule 34), won the Locarno Film Festival’s Golden Leopard on Saturday, the highest distinction of this Swiss festival, with the story of a student who trades for her sexual antics on the internet.
Posted at 11:48 a.m.
Presented as a world premiere at Locarno, the film paints the portrait of a law student, Simone, who is interested in violence against women in her country. While debating this subject at university, she privately plays the “camgirl” by filming herself and exposing herself on the internet in extreme sexual practices for remuneration.
The director expressed her surprise at receiving the award, noting that “it’s a film that deals with a very difficult subject” and “so I never thought it would be possible for more than one member of the jury is fighting for this film”.
“It’s hard to imagine this film being seen in Brazil as anything other than an artistic film. But I hope so,” she added in an interview published by the festival.
The title of the film refers to the so-called rule 34 of the internet which states that everything on the web has its pornographic equivalent, and questions how to maintain the balance between desire, freedom and protection, both for individuals and for society, especially in Brazil.
” Regra 34 brings Brazilian cinema back to the anarchic splendor of “marginal cinema”. A bold and political work destined to leave a mark. The body becomes a political object”, underlined the artistic director of the festival, Giona Nazzaro.
This prize is, according to him, “important for a cinematography such as that of Brazil, which has defined key moments in the history of world cinema. A cinema that is at the forefront of defending the idea of a more inclusive and freer world”.
The film was criticized by some for its excessive violence shown on screen.
This is the third feature film by Julia Murat, 42, little sister of Lucia Murat, a famous Brazilian director and activist.
The jury of the Locarno festival, a small town on the shores of Lake Maggiore, has also awarded the film three times. Tengo Suenos Electricos (I Have Electric Dreams) by Costa Rican director Valentina Maurel.
The film won the Best Director Award, the Best Actress Award (Daniela Marin Navarro) and the Best Actor Award (Reinaldo Amién Gutiérrez).