42nd Locarno Film Festival
The 42nd Locarno Film Festival was held from 3 to 13 August 1989 in Locarno, Switzerland. The opening film of the festival was Gone With The Wind. Attendance at the Piazza Grande, the open-air theater, reached a new record high with 8,900 tickets sold for the closing film Jim Jarmusch's Mystery Train. Over 100,000 people attended the festival.
A retrospective of the films of Preston Sturges also was a hit with audiences, especially film professionals, and film historian Donald Spotto along with Sturges' widow, Sandy Sturges, both attended the festival. Three episodes of Krzysztof Kieślowski's Dekalog were also crowd favorites with the festival having to turn away crowds every night.
Variety reporter, Edna Fairaru remarked that this year showed the importance of festival selection as the film Why Has Bodhi-Dharma Left for the East?, which experienced walk-outs at the Cannes film festival, was loved at Locarno by audiences and critics alike when it won top prize.
The Golden Leopard, the festival's top prize, was awarded to Why Has Bodhi-Dharma Left for the East? directed by Yong-Kyun Bae.
Jury
International Jury – Main Competition (Incomplete)
- Dominique Sanda, French actress
- Aleksandr Askoldov, Russian director
Official Sections
The following films were screened in these sections:Official Awards
Official Jury International Competition
- Golden Leopard: Why Has Bodhi-Dharma Left for the East? directed by Yong-Kyun Bae
- Silver Leopard: Piravi directed by Shaji N. Karun
- Bronze Leopard: Where Is the Friend's House? directed by Abbas Kiarostami, The Seventh Continent directed by Michael Haneke
- Bronze Leopard : Adam Karnien in Kornblumenblau
- Special Mention, Official Jury: Niupeng directed by Dai Sijie
FIPRESCI Jury
- International Critics Award: Why Has Bodhi-Dharma Left for the East? directed by Yong-Kyun Bae
- Honorable Mention FIPRESCI: Where Is the Friend's House? directed by Abbas Kiarostami,
Ecumenical Jury
- Ecumenical Jury Prize: Why Has Bodhi-Dharma Left for the East? directed by Yong-Kyun Bae
- Ecumenical Jury special Mention: Where Is the Friend's House? directed by Abbas Kiarostami,
Youth Jury
- First Prize: Verfolgte Wege directed by Uwe Janson
- Second Prize: Why Has Bodhi-Dharma Left for the East? directed by Yong-Kyun Bae
- Third Prize: Chil-Su Oa Man-Su directed by Park Kwang-Su
Barclay Award Jury
- First prize, Barclay Award: Where Is the Friend's House? directed by Abbas Kiarostami,
- Second prize, Barclay Award: Why Has Bodhi-Dharma Left for the East? directed by Yong-Kyun Bae