Baba, by Chinese director Wang Shuo, picked up the Golden Leopard award at the 53rd Locarno Film Festival on Saturday night. The film, a tragicomic tale about a difficult relationship between a father and son, was the surprise entry at the festival.

Hong Kong director Fruit Chan picked up a Silver Leopard for Best New Cinema for Little Cheung, about a young boy's coming-of-age on the eve of Hong Kong's passing from British to Chinese rule. The Young Cinema prize went to Manila by German director Romuald Karmakar.

The Bronze Leopard for best actress was given to Sabine Timeoteo for her performance in French entry L'Amour, L'Argent, L'Amour directed by Philip Groning. The best actor Bronze Leopard was split between Roland Duringer, Josef Hader and Joachim Bissmeier, the three protagonists in Austrian director Florian Flicker's comedy The Hold-Up, about a frustrated store robber and his two unwitting hostages.

The jury prize went to Italian director Paolo Benvenuti for Gostanza Da Libbiana, his third in a trilogy of religious period films. The jury also gave special mention to French director Elliane de Latour's Bronx-Barbes and to No Quarto No Vanda by Portuguese filmmaker Pedro Costa.

Festival audiences chose more commercial fare awarding the public prize to Paul Verhoeven's Hollow Man.

Legendary comedic Italian actor Paolo Villaggio was presented with a Career Leopard Award. Villaggio also appeared in competition film Blue (Azzurro) by Italian filmmaker Denis Rabaglia.