Wednesday, July 13, 2016

69th Festival del Film Locarno Lineup


Today Carlo Chatrian, Artistic Director of Locarno festival, announced the lineup with films that renew the tradition of an event devoted to cinematic discoveries. But most interesting is also the tribute to Abbas Kiarostami and Michael Cimino, both winners of Locarno awards.

Also today fest organizers announced some surprises and guests of Locarno69 and if you wish to read the official announcement go here, some of the news is the screening of The Girl with All the Gifts by Com McCarthy, Bill Pullman will receive the Execellence Award, David Linde will receive the Premio Raimondo Rezzonico, Alejandro Jodorowsky gets the Pardo d'Onore, Howard Shore the Vision Award, plus more.

Announced earlier, The Concorso Cineasti del Presente will open with I Had Nowhere to Go by Douglas Gordon, a film based on Jonas Mekas's diary. Carlo Chatrian, Artistic Director comments: “This year we decided to open the Concorso Cineasti del presente with a film that is the outcome of a collaboration between two internationally famous artists: Douglas Gordon, who for some years now has been interested in the “filmic event”, and Jonas Mekas, a magnificent 93-year-old, full of energy and still a fabulous storyteller. Although I do not want to reveal any more about this extraordinary project, I can say that Douglas Gordon offers us a truly sensorial experience, which challenges the concept of seeing, and links the idea of the present with that of memory”.

Announced last week, Roger Corman is the guest of honor at the Filmmakers Academy. Roger Corman will be paid tribute during the 69th edition of the Festival del film Locarno via screenings of two of his films. Guest of honor at the Filmmakers Academy, the training project for young directors, Corman has long been considered a cult filmmaker who helped change the way films are conceived, produced and directed.

Concorso Internazionale

In an edition of the festival powered by an energy that brooks no borders, the Concorso Internazionale presents 17 films that blow in from Japan to Portugal, from Bulgaria to Thailand.

Seventeen films and as many world premieres of which eight are directed by women. Newcomers vs returnees, experience vs youthfulness, discoveries vs already established talents, fiction, documentaries and hybrids. Seventeen different visions competing for the Pardo d’Oro.

Al Ma'wal Khodra Wal Wajh el Hassan (Brooks, Meadows and Lovely Faces), Yousry Nasrallah, Egypt
Bangkok Nites, Katsuya Tomita, Japan, France, Thailand, Laos
Correspondências, Rita Azevedo Gomes, Portugal (documentary)
ดาวคะนอง Dao Khanong (By the Time it Gets Dark), Anocha Suwichakornpong, Thailand, Netherlands, France and Qatar
Der Traumhafte Weg (The Dreamlike Path), Angela Schanelec, Germany
Godless, Ralitza Petrova, Bulgaria, Denmark and France
Hermia & Helena, Matías Piñeiro, USA and Argentina
Inimi Cicatrizate (Scarred Hearts), Radu Jude, Romania and Germany
Jeunesse (The Young One), Julien Samani, France and Portugal
風に濡れた女 Kaze ni Nureta Onna (Wet Woman in the Wind), Akihiko Shiota, Japan
La Idea de un Lago (The Idea of A Lake), Milagros Mumenthaler, Switzerland, Argentina and Qatar
La Prunelle de Mes Yeux (The Apple of My Eye), Axelle Ropert, France
Marija (Maria), Michael Koch, Germany and Switzerland
Mister Universo, Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel, Austria and Italy
O Ornitólogo (The Ornithologist), João Pedro Rodrigues, Portugal, France and Brazil
Ostatnia Rodzina (The Last Family), Jan P. Matuszyński, Poland
Slava (Glory), Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov, Bulgaria and Greece

Piazza Grande

An effervescent variety of blockbusters, arthouse films, debut movies, works by established masters. This is the main characteristic of a big screen which will lit up Piazza Grande from August 3 to August 13.

If the opening film of the Scottish director Colm McCarthy, The Girl with All the Gifts, will lead us into a dystopian future which is strictly connected to contemporary issues, the closing film - Ashutosh Gowariker's Mohenjo Daro - will see the return to Locarno of a big Indian production with a beautiful mix made of epics, music and dances.

Am Tag Als der Regen Kam (The Day It Rained), Gerd Oswald, Germany, 1959
Cessez-le-feu (Ceasefire), Emmanuel Courcol, France
Comboio de Sal e Açucar, Licínio de Azevedo, Portugal, Mozambique, France, South Africa and Brazil
Dans la forêt, Gilles Marchand, France and Sweden
I, Daniel Blake, Ken Loack, UK, France and Belgium
Interchange, Dain Iskandar Said, Malaysia and Indonesia
Jason Bourne, Paul Greengrass, USA
Le Ciel Attendra (Heaven Will Wait), Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar, France
Mohenjo Daro, Ashutosh Gowariker, India
Moka by Frédéric Mermoud, France and Switzerland
Paula, Christian Schwochow, Germany and France
Poesia Sin Fin (Endless Poetry), Alejandro Jodorowsky, France and Chile
터널 Teo-Neol (The Tunnel), Kim Seong-hun, South Korea
The Girl With All the Gifts, Colm McCarthy, UK
Vincent, Christophe Van Rompaey, France and Belgium
Vor der Morgenröte - Stefan Zweig in Amerika (Stefan Zweig: Farewell to Europe), Maria Schraders, Germany, France and Austria

Check available info and trailers @MOC

If you wish to learn the Concorso Cineasti del Presente lineup with 15 first and second films, go official site here.  Also to check the short films lineup for the Pardi di Domani in two different competition, one international and another national (Swiss), go official site here.

Carlo Chatrian announces the program, in English.



This is the first time that we get a clear idea of what must be going in parallel to all cinema activities as believe is the first time we can see what goes on in La Rotonda and gee, seems the Swiss really know how to party (LOL), take a look.



On top, La Rotonda absolutely has the best graphic identity with the leopard in an unbelievably good jumping position (or perhaps not jumping, just in a tree branch or maybe doing something else, lol). Enjoy!

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