Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... And Spring, the 9th film by Korean director Kim Ki-duk, was warmly received at the Locarno International Film Festival and came home with four minor awards. Set at a remote Buddhist temple and depicting several stages of a man's life, the film became the first screening in recent memory to receive applause at its press screening, and during its regular screening the film got a standing ovation. Despite being widely predicted to win the top award, the film was not mentioned by the festival's jury.
Nonetheless the film received four awards outside of the official competition. The Junior Jury presented the movie with its top prize, which comes with 6,000 Swiss Francs.
The CICAE/ARTE prize was presented to the film with this comment: "For the universal story and for the sensitivity in which the film portrays the fears and desires of human beings and for the precision and beauty of the cinematography".
The NETPAC jury for the promotion of Asian cinema gave the film its top prize "for depicting a senstive portrayal of a man's journey in search of the meaning of life achieved with an admirably simple and at the same time profound cinematic excellence in a poetic
narrative".
Finally, the International Federation of Cinema Clubs also gave the film its Don Quijote award "...for its tender and subtle humour, its universal appeal and its particular visual style. Throughout the film the changing seasons of the countryside mirror the lives of the characters. The audience also travels the same path and the film brings a lightness of touch to the dilemmas of the various characters that is wholly convincing. Although the film is set in one place, the characters exist as fully rounded human beings with a past but also importantly, a future".
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