(ATTN: ADDS 2nd award in para 3)

SEOUL, Aug. 16 (Yonhap) -- Director Hong Sang-soo and actor Kim Min-hee have clinched awards at this year's Locarno Film Festival for their latest film, "Nowhere to Lay My Eyes."

Hong received the award for best direction at the 79th edition of the film festival in Switzerland on Saturday, while Kim, the director's longtime partner, won best performance, along with Italian actress Monica Bellucci for her role in the Italian drama "Kettice."

Hong also received the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury, an independent award for feature-length films at various international festivals. The jury is made up of critics and theologians nominated by Catholic and Protestant churches, and the award recognizes "works of artistic quality which witness to the power of film to reveal the mysterious depths of human beings through what concerns them, their hurts and failings as well as their hopes."

"Nowhere to Lay My Eyes," Hong's 35th feature, follows Sang-hee (Kim Min-hee), who heads to the southern Korean island of Jeju to find her divorcee mom, whom she last saw 10 years ago.

It marked the fifth time Hong was invited to the Locarno Film Festival to screen his work. He won the best director award for "Our Sunhi" (2013) and the top Golden Leopard prize for "Right Now, Wrong Then" (2015).

Kim previously clinched the best performance award at the festival for her role in Hong's "By the Stream" (2024).

yunhwanchae@yna.co.kr

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