Argentinian cinema was the big winner at this year's Fribourg International Film Festival which closed on Sunday March 23 with the $21,500 (SFR 30,000) Regard D'Or going to Carlos Sorin's Historias Minimas.

In addition, the Special Jury Award went to Luis Ortega's feature debut Caja Negra and the General Public Award to Lugares Communes by Adolfo Aristarain.

Meanwhile, the Documentary Award, sponsored jointly by daily newspaper La Liberte and broadcaster TSR, was presented to Israeli filmmaker David Benchetrit for Kaddim Wind - Moroccan Chronicles for its "courageous and successful attempt to explore an essential aspect of the present situation in the Middle East."

While overall attendance at the festival was up 2,000 on last year to 27,000 tickets sold, local Swiss distributor trigon-film announced that it will organise a "Films from the South" tour through numerous Swiss cities from April 4 with screenings of such festival films as Wo Ai Ni (I Love You) by Zhang Yuan, Houve Uma Vez Dois Veroes (Two Summers), by Jorge Furtado, Kannathil Muthamittal (A Peck On A Cheek) by Mani Ratman and Ticket To Jerusalem by Rashid Masharawi.

Given the events playing out in Iraq during the festival, Fribourg's organisers observed "that encounters which promote exchanges such as those fostered by the Festival are extremely important. More than ever, the Fribourg Film Festival was the link between filmmakers bearing witness to their cultures and their contemporaries. More than ever the Festival demonstrated the need for dialogue, for testimony as a means to better understand those different from us."