"Leonera" by Pablo Trapero wins Best Feature Film at the 24 Torino GLBT Film Festival

The Feature films jury composed by Harry Baer (actor, Germany), Donatella Maiorca (director, Italy), Monica Rametta (actress, scriptwriter, Italy), Auraeus Solito (director, Philippines), Todd Stephens (director, USA) has awarded Argentinean film “Leonera” by Pablo Trapero as Best Feature Film with the “Ottavio Mai Award” (5000 euros) at the 24 Torino GLBT Film Festival.

The jury has awarded “Leonera” for the balance between a rigorous and genial direction the movie succeeds in conveying, transmitted by the intense interpretation of the female main characters. Moreover for the archetypical female role of maternity as a defense for people’s overcoming supported by women’s solidarity.

A Special Mention goes to Martina Gusman for her interpretation in Leonera thanks to her skill in physically and mentally transforming herself in the character of the mother.

Leonera - On awakening, Julia finds the bloodied bodies of Ramiro and Nahuel in her apartment. Ramiro is still alive; both men were her lovers without either knowing of the other, and she is pregnant by one of them. She is sent to a women’s prison where she initially keeps to herself. She decides to have her baby, Tomas, in prison. Her mother manages to take custody of the child, but Julia is determined to reclaim the child.

Pablo Trapero (b. 1971, San Justo, Buenos Aires, Argentina) began his international career in 1999 with the release of his award-winning and critically acclaimed first feature Mundo Grúa. His second feature, El Bonaerense, premiered at Un Certain Regard at the 2002 Cannes Festival. In 2002, he founded Matanza Cine, his own production company, in Buenos Aires. Short and TV films to his directorial credit include: Rolling Family, Born and Bread and Intersecciones, a documentary feature.