GENEVA (AFP).- "Godless", Bulgarian director Ralitza Petrova's dark debut film, scooped the coveted Golden Leopard prize at the Locarno film festival in Switzerland on Saturday.

The film tells the story of Gana, a young woman who looks after elderly dementia patients and traffics their ID cards on the black market.

Played by Irena Ivanova, who also picked up Best Actress at the festival, Gana is moved to try to change her ways when she meets a new patient who loves music, but discovers that doing the right thing can come at a very high price.

Now in its 69th year, the Locarno festival takes place every summer in the picturesque Swiss town on the shores of Lake Maggiore.

The runner-up Special Jury Prize went to "Scarred Hearts", by Romanian director Radu Jude, which is set in a sanatorium on the coast of the Black Sea in 1937 against a background of the rise of fascism.

Portugal's Joao Pedro Rodrigues meanwhile won Best Director for "The Ornithologist", organisers said.

And British director Ken Loach's moving drama "I, Daniel Blake", which won the Palme d'Or top prize in Cannes earlier this year, was named the audience's top choice at the festival.



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