PardoLive Special Edition · Spring 2016
Looking Towards #Locarno69
The Leopards of Locarno by Jannuzzi Smith
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Lane, USA
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Industry Days: make a note in your diary
Festival
Team Executive Board Marco Solari President Carla Speziali Vice-President Marco Cameroni Felix Ehrat Federico Jolli Daniele Jörg Secretary and Legal Consultant Carlo Chatrian Artistic Director Mario Timbal Chief Operating Officer Nadia Dresti Delegate of the Artistic Director and Head of International Carmen Werner Head of Programming Office Selection Committee Mark Peranson Head of Programming Lorenzo Esposito Sergio Fant Aurélie Godet Pardi di domani Committee Alessandro Marcionni Head of Pardi di domani Gonzalo de Pedro Amatria Liz Harkman Bruno Quiblier Sophie Bourdon Head of Open Doors Amel Soudani-Marti Head of Press Office & Digital Communication Luca Spinosa Head of Marketing Raphaël Brunschwig Head of Sponsorship Lorenzo Buccella Head of PardoLive
Contacts Festival del film Locarno
Carlo Chatrian Artistic Director
#Locarno69 This issue of Pardolive is coming out just as the definition of the programme is reaching its most exciting and fascinating phase, just before the final decisions are made about the films that will feature in the competitions and the Piazza Grande programme. Distancing ourselves briefly from a direct evaluation of the works, it is natural to query the actual role of a festival. In a world in which communication travels faster than the speed of frames, in which work-in-progress screenings are multiplying, effectively anticipating or diluting the reception of films, in which trailers become tools for shaping judgements and prejudices, in which selection and viewing methods have changed radically, what remains of the film as such? Increasingly becoming an irreplaceable filter between public and market, festivals have absorbed precisely those ubiquitous market techniques aimed at helping products be valued and therefore sold. This perspective might seem debasing, but it would be hypocritical to deny the fact that without a market, festivals would no longer exist, just as it is true that without the festival system the film market would suffer a serious blow. Festivals and film support systems have for a long time gone hand in hand, each helping the other. Perhaps now the time has come not to question such a system but to ask how it can be improved, infusing it with new lifeblood. At Locarno, there are two lines of development that we are seeking to carry forward. One concerns the space granted to the his-
tory of cinema, understood as a memory that should be constantly renewed and which the festival circuit tends to wipe out in the orgasmic excitement of the world premiere. The other is granting space and voice to nonstandard works, which for reasons linked to their production, duration or the language used are not immediately assimilable but which in the medium or even short term can open up new paths. The two guests who will be enriching the programme of the 69th edition are two examples of this desire. Mario Adorf is an actor who has left a profound mark on the collective imagination of at least two countries (Germany and Italy) and several generations. He is an actor whose genre-crossing filmography has challenged those distinctions between arthouse and mainstream film that today can seem insurmountable barriers. David Linde, on the other hand, is a prominent figure in the landscape of this new millennium, not just for his work on various unforgettable films but most of all for his ability to look to the extremes of the cinematic spectrum – including geographic extremes – and connect together distant worlds.
Artistic Director’s Blog pardo.ch/blog Facebook.com/FilmFestivalLocarno Twitter @FilmFestLocarno, @CarloChatrian Hashtag #Locarno69
The Art of Film
Via Ciseri 23, ch–6601 Locarno t +41 91 756 21 21 f +41 91 756 21 49 info@pardo.ch, www.pardo.ch Twitter @FilmFestLocarno Facebook.com/FilmFestivalLocarno Instagram.com/filmfestlocarno Hashtag #Locarno69
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The worlds of art and cinema will once again intersect with a shared event. Following last year’s success, the Festival del film Locarno and Art Basel will be renewing their strong partnership, inspired by a convergence of interests and sensibility. As a result of the synergy this year, the Swiss premiere of Continuity will be held during Art Basel. The latest film by the Israeli-born, Berlin-based artist Omer Fast, who has been exploring different narrative formats through video installations for several years, Continuity features an older couple who hire male escorts to play out their dead son’s return from Afghanistan. The 40-minute work explores loss and grief as much as the narrative constructions of fiction and the cinematic conventions used in documentary films. The premiere will take place on Friday 17 June, 2016, an unmissable screening that once again springs from the shared desire of two of Switzerland’s top events to restore centrality to all those works that move along the borders between different artistic disciplines. l. b. PardoLive
Pardo alla carriera and Retrospective
Retrospective 2016 Beloved and Rejected: Cinema in the young Federal Republic of Germany from 1949 to 1963 Post-WW2 German cinema has a truly fascinating story to tell us. Emerging shattered from the war, having become a territory to control, and divided in two, Germany had to rebuild itself from the ashes. As is often the case, a nation’s film production holds up a mirror to the country. In 1946, 5 films were produced; seven years later the figure would rise to 103. But what the figures do not tell us about is the outpouring of a national cinema able to straddle the most diverse genres, making the most of that lingua franca which, at the turn of the century, had made cities like Vienna and Berlin such driving forces in cultural production. That pejorative expression “Papas Kino”, with which New German Cinema dismissed the era’s production, turns out to encompass a much more complex and diverse reality. This 1950s German cinema, whether one considers comedies or films noir, musicals or dramas, not only reveals the existence of a robust industry, able to produce stories for an audience that was
finding itself, but also having an unusual taste for mixing up the high and the low brow, managing to introduce ways of reflecting on national identity even in what might appear to be purely entertainment films. Alongside film history’s established and often cited names, such as Helmut Käutner and Wolfgang Staudte, the retrospective aims to enable discovery of others, just as important, who shaped the era’s cinema. Thanks to the long and painstaking research project undertaken by Olaf Möller, alongside Roberto Turigliatto, with his habitual rigor and expertise, the retrospective will offer an overview ranging from commercial films to auteurs’ debuts, and is rounded out with a wealth of short films. The basic idea is to suggest this decade as a pivotal period, a kind of point of convergence for diverse practices and experiences. carlo chatrian
In collaboration with: Deutsches Filminstitut Filmmuseum With the support of: Cinémathèque suisse, German Films The Retrospective will circulate through: Film Society Lincoln Center, New York; National Gallery of Art, Washington; Museo Nazionale del Cinema, Torino; i 1000 occhi, Trieste; Cinémathèque suisse, Lausanne; Filmpodium, Zurich; Kino REX, Bern; Filmmuseum Landeshauptstadt, Düsseldorf; Zeughauskino: Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin; Caligari Film-Bühne, Wiesbaden; Kommunales Kino Metropolis/Kinemathek, Hamburg; Cinemateca Portuguesa: Museu do Cinema, Lisbon PardoLive
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Mario Adorf Man of a Thousand Faces There are actors who can become centres of gravity around which entire cinematic seasons can rotate. Eclectic pivots able to carry – with the same capacity for impact and identification – the force of art film narratives as well those with a more mainstream slant. For German-language film, slowly reopening itself to the world in the post-war period, Mario Adorf was one such actor. A physical and charismatic presence, he was a guarantee onscreen and, precisely by virtue of his versatility, was as familiar to cinemagoers as he was theatrical in his ability to embrace a vast gallery of characters, switching with ease from dramatic to more comic roles. The Retrospective at the 69th Festival del film Locarno will be casting its gaze on the films of the young Federal Republic of Germany after the war (1949-1963). This makes the awarding of the Pardo alla carriera to Mario Adorf seem an almost inevitable crossover, but in fact its significance goes much further, given the scope of the actor’s career. Adorf was born in 1930 in Zurich to a family of Italian origin, and his 60-plus years of international work have taken him well beyond German-speaking borders. A roll call of the great directors 5
with whom he worked on over 200 films for cinema and television makes this clear; it includes not just masters of German film such as Edgar Reitz, Volker Schlöndorff and Rainer Werner Fassbinder, but also American luminaries like Sam Peckinpah and Billy Wilder and Claude Chabrol in France, not to mention Adorf’s lengthy embrace with Italian cinema under the direction of, variously, Dario Argento, Luigi Comencini, Carlo Mazzacurati and Sergio Corbucci. So the tribute that Locarno will pay to Mario Adorf will include the screening of a selection of films linked to the Retrospective (Nachts, wenn der Teufel kam by Robert Siodmak, 1957; Der Arzt von Stalingrad by Géza von Radványi, 1958; and Am Tag, als der Regen kam by Gerd Oswald, 1959), but the overview of his dramatic gifts will also be expanded with screenings of Luigi Comencini’s A cavallo della tigre (1961) and Fernando Di Leo’s La mala ordina (1972). Performance by performance, this homage will seek to reflect those mimetic, chameleon-like talents that Mario Adorf brought to every onscreen appearance. lorenzo buccella
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About
Sections Piazza Grande
Concorso internazionale
The square of Piazza Grande, which seats up to 8,000 viewers per night, is both the heart of the Festival and its showcase. With its giant screen, one of the biggest in the world.
Making no distinctions as to genre, origin or format, the Concorso Internazionale presents a rich panorama of cinema, including works by both established directors and emerging talents.
Screen dimensions: 26 x 14 m (364 m2) Projection box – screen distance: 80 m
Pardo d’oro 90,000 chf
Pardo for the Best Director 20,000 chf
Prix du Public UBS 30,000 chf Variety Piazza Grande Award
Special Jury Prize 30,000 chf
Pardo for the Best Actress Pardo for the Best Actor
Concorso Pardi di domani Cineasti del presente
Signs of Life
Histoire(s) du cinéma
A selection of works – out of competition – by well-established filmmakers, exploring new narrative forms and innovative film language.
The section is the sidebar dedicated to the history of cinema, offering works from filmmakers and artists to whom the Festival dedicates special tributes, as well as documentaries about filmmakers and actors.
The section that enables audiences to discover those filmmakers who are shaping the cinema of tomorrow, the Concorso Cineasti del presente is open to first or second features.
Designed for short auteur films, the Pardi di domani section has two competitions: one for recent Swiss productions and the other, international, for films from all over the world.
Pardo d’oro CDP – Premio Nescens 40,000 chf
Pardino d’oro for the Best International Short Film – Premio SRG SSR 10,000 chf
Pardo for the Best New Director 20,000 chf Cine+ Special Jury Prize 25,000 chf
Pardino d’oro for the Best Swiss Short Film – Premio Swiss Life 10,000 chf Pardino d’argento SRG SSR for the International Competition 5,000 chf Pardino d’argento Swiss Life for the National Competition 5,000 chf
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Premio Raimondo Rezzonico
David Linde American producer David Linde will receive the Premio Raimondo Rezzonico that pays tribute to the most significant movers and shakers in independent international production. Over the course of his highly impressive career in the American and international film industry, David Linde has been behind numerous successful films in his capacity as producer, executive producer, buyer and/or distributor. After working at Miramax Films and Miramax Films International, Linde joined Focus Features. During that time, Linde produced a varied slate of films including Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Biutiful, Happiness by Todd Solondz, Roman Polanski’s The Pianist. David Linde is currently CEO of Participant Media, founded by Jeff Skoll in 2004.
Could you briefly tell us about your drive to produce within and outside the American film industry? Alejandro González Iñárritu is one among many non-American filmmaker you produced and supported from early on… My parents always stressed an appreciation for culture as the means of best understanding the world. When I was younger we traveled the world and I was encouraged to learn multiple languages. This exposure and curiosity about the world was the driving force in my early focus on international distribution of American films. As my career progressed I was able to do the opposite and be involved in the global presentation of non-American films. Interestingly, a lot of my work has been focused cross- culturally with Spanish (Almodovar, Bayona), Mexican (Cuaron, Innaritu, Del Toro) and Chinese (Lee, Yimou) filmmakers….and I don’t speak Spanish or Chinese! There’s the art of cinema, and the art of producing independent films tailored for a larger audience. What can you tell us about that hard task, since you surely have a significant track record with indie films being so successful in the international box office… After college, I moved to New York just as the American independent scene was blossoming. Joel And Ethan Coen and Jim Jarmusch were walking the streets, literally. I love the way a filmmaker’s perspective influences the audience’s appreciation for a film, and was really lucky that my colleagues at Miramax and Good Machine shared that understanding. We were really committed to finding the best (and any) way to accomplish that goal. It was a tremendously exciting time, and that is where my career really began. Stepping up as the CEO of Participant Media, could you tell us about your role with this new position at this particular moment of your career? I joined Participant Media a little over nine months ago as CEO. Participant is a film and content company that uses storytelling to create impact on important social issues. It’s an exciting place to be a part of and felt like a natural fit with the focus of my career – working with creative visionaries to tell important and compelling stories that move audiences around the world. As CEO, I’m able to take that next step and create avenues for people to be a part of solution. It’s unique in the entertainment world and it’s an honor to lead the company forward. l. b. 7
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Palmarès 2015 Concorso internazionale Pardo d’oro JIGEUMEUN MATGO GEUTTAENEUN TEULLIDA (RIGHT NOW, WRONG THEN)
by HONG Sangsoo, South Korea Premio speciale della giuria (Special Jury Prize) TIKKUN by Avishai Sivan, Israel Pardo per la miglior regia (Best direction) ANDRZEJ ZULAWSKI for COSMOS, France/Portugal
Pardo per la miglior interpretazione femminile (Best actress) TANAKA SACHIE, KIKUCHI HAZUKI, MIHARA MAIKO, KAWAMURA RIRA for HAPPY HOUR by HAMAGUCHI Ryusuke, Japan Pardo per la miglior interpretazione maschile (Best actor) JUNG JAE-YOUNG for JIGEUMEUN MATGO GEUTTAENEUN TEULLIDA (RIGHT NOW, WRONG THEN) by HONG Sangsoo, South Korea Special Mention HAPPY HOUR by HAMAGUCHI Ryusuke, Japan TIKKUN by Avishai Sivan, Israel
Concorso Cineasti del presente Pardo d’oro Cineasti del presente – Premio Nescens THITHI by Raam Reddy, India/USA/Canada
Premio per il miglior regista emergente (Prize for the best emerging director) LU BIAN YE CAN (KAILI BLUES) by BI Gan, China
Premio speciale della giuria Ciné+ Cineasti del presente (Special Jury prize) DEAD SLOW AHEAD by Mauro Herce, Spain/France
The Festival’s Afterlife Concorso internazionale BELLA E PERDUTA by Pietro Marcello Göteborg Film Festival: International Debut Award La-Roche-sur Yon (FIF85): Best Film BRAT DEJAN (BROTHER DEJAN) by Bakur Bakuradze Pacific Meridian International Film Festival of Asia Pacific Countries: Grand Prix CHANT D'HIVER by Otar Ioselliani Lisbon & Estoril Film Festival: João Bénard da Costa Special Jury Award CHEVALIER by Athina Rachel Tsangari London Film Festival: Best Film Sarajevo Film Festival: Best Actor Thessaloniki Film Festival: Audience Award HAPPY HOUR by HAMAGUCHI Ryusuke Nantes Festival des 3 Continents: Silver Montgolfiere, Audience Award Singapore International Film Festival: Best Film HEIMATLAND by Lisa Blatter et all. Max Ophüls Festival: Best Socially Relevant Film JAMES WHITE by Josh Mond Deauville Film Festival: Revelations Award AFI Fest: American Independents Audience Award Hamptons International Film Festival: Breakthrough Performer Chlotrudis Awards: Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress
JIGEUMEUN MATGO GEUTTAENEUN TEULLIDA (RIGHT NOW, WRONG THEN) by HONG Sang-soo Asia Pacific Screen Awards: Best Performance by an Actor Gijón International Film Festival: Grand Prix Asturias (Best Film), Best Actor MA DAR BEHESHT (PARADISE) by Sina Ataeian Dena Seville European Film Festival: Special Mention (New Waves Non-Fiction Award) O FUTEBOL by Sergio Oksman Festival dei popoli: Premio miglior lungometraggio SCHNEIDER VS. BAX by Alex van Warmerdam L'Etrange Festival: Grand Prix Nouveau Genre Award TE PROMETO ANARQUIA by Julio Hernandez Cordon Morelia International Film Festival (FICM): Premio Guerrero a Largometraje Mexicano Los Cabos International Film Festival (Baja): Best Film, FIPRESCI Prize Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival: Best Latin American Film TIKKUN by Avishai Sivan Jerusalem Film Festival: Best Israeli Feature, Best Actor, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography Valladolid International Film Festival: Best Director of Photography
Concorso Cineasti del presente EL MOVIMIENTO by Benjamin Naishtat Mar del Plata Film Festival: Best Argentinean Film KEEPER by Guillaume Senez Torino Film Festival: Best Film – Prize of the City of Torino Hamburg Film Festival: Young Talent Award Annonay International Festival of First Films: Special Jury Prize LE GRAND JEU by Nicolas Pariser Prix Louis Delluc: Best First Film
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LU BIAN YE CAN (KAILI BLUES) by BI Gan Golden Horse Film Festival: Best New Director, FIPRESCI Prize Las Palmas Film Festival: Golden Lady Harimaguada – Cajamar Foundation Nantes Festival des 3 Continents: Golden Montgolfiere OLMO & THE SEAGULL by Petra Costa, Lea Glob PH:DOX: Nordic Dox Award, Reel Talent Award Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival: Best Feature Length Documentary RiverRun International Film Festival: Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature THITHI by Raam Reddy Mumbai Film Festival: Jury Grand Prize
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Vision Award Nescens
The Lord of the Musics Howard Shore
From the soundworlds that shaped almost every one of David Cronenberg’s films to the fantasy thundering of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, ranging through the musical punctuation of thrillers like The Silence of the Lambs (Jonathan Demme) and Seven (David Fincher), the pursuit of sparks of rock music in High Fidelity (Steven Frears) or the accompaniment to the hypnoses and bizarre hiccups of Ed Wood (Tim Burton), without forgetting all those incursions into genres that arose out of the collaboration with Martin Scorsese, from the mechanical tick-tock of black comedy (After Hours) to the epic score of The Aviator to the fantastical sighs of Hugo… These are just some of the greatest examples – among the many available – of how a soundtrack can never be reduced to a secondary filmic element, to a side dish, when it has been scored with the creative touch of a composer like Howard Shore. He has the rare gift of being able to insert the music directly into that process of world-building that lies at the base of a film. And it is because of this gift, put to the service of a long series of great directors, that the Festival del film Locarno is paying tribute to the great Canadian composer and conductor. This is the latest continuation of a journey that Locarno is dedicating to those figures who have shaped the history of cinema with their insight and skill. After the tributes to the special effects of Douglas Trumbull (2013), Mr Steadicam® Garrett Brown (2014) and sound designer and editor Walter Murch, the upcoming 69th edition will turn the spotlight on Howard Shore. Born in Toronto in 1946, his musical career has not been limited to the movies, though it is at the cinema that it has found its maximum resonance. This is clear not just from the welcome recognition represented by a total of three Oscars (Best Original Score in 2002 for The Lord of
the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and in 2004 for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, when he also won the award for Best Original Song for Into the West, performed by Annie Lennox). What should be noted most of all is the significance and impact his compositions have had on the invention of the most diverse auteurial universes, with that versatility that can move musical horizons in order to combine them with the image in a way that is always stimulating and never unambiguous. And if there was ever need of more examples, we can go back to where we started from: the substantial filmography of David Cronenberg, with whom Shore began working back in 1979, with the science-fiction horror The Brood. The dystopian future ruled by television violence in Videodrome (1983) would never have found its anguished density without the sinister and metallic reverberations that infect its soundtrack. The same can be said for the horror-like suspense that musically accompanies the bodily transformations of a scientist into an insect in The Fly (1986). Cinematographic voyages that merge with Ornette Coleman’s saxophone as they delve into the hallucinated mental explorations of Naked Lunch (1991), or veer towards the disturbing electric cords of a guitar that creates the sound landscape of the erotic collisions between cars and bodies in Crash (1996). And so on, up to the more noir and dramatic styles of Cronenberg’s most recent productions (Eastern Promises, Cosmopolis, Maps to the Stars), also characterized by Shore’s music, because the ear can also lead us to the edges of other types of mental abyss. As always for Shore, he discards any kind of didactic shortcut, instead setting himself the task of sculpting, note by note, the invisible heart of the world in which everything takes place. l. b.
2015
Actress Cécile de France.
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Masterpieces that had a profound impact on me, like Rome, Open City, were seen for the first time at this Festival. So I’m proud to receive this award here in Locarno and to be part of this great history.
Vision Award Nescens Walter Murch.
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Excellence Award Moët & Chandon Edward Norton.
Pardo d’onore Swisscom Marco Bellocchio.
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Pardo d’onore Swisscom Michael Cimino.
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Leopard Club Award Andy Garcia.
Director Andrzej Zulawski
Director Chantal Akerman
Actress Marthe Keller.
Actress Amy Schumer.
Actor and member of the Concorso internazionale Jury Udo Kier.
Pardo alla carriera Marlen Khutsiev.
Pardo alla carriera Bulle Ogier.
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Pardo d’oro 2015 Hong Sangsoo.
Filmmaker and member of the Concorso internazionale Jury Jerry Schatzberg.
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It’s all about
FIRST LOOK
Locarno’s works in progress sidebar, designed as a springboard for the films of the future, will be focusing this year on Polish Cinema, one of Eastern Europe’s most thriving film industries, in collaboration with the Polish Film Institute. Initiated in 2011, First Look presented films in post-production from a different country each year, among which the succesful Sand Storm by Elite Zexer (Israel, 2015), The Second Mother by Anna Muylaert (Brazil, 2014), To Kill a Man by Alejandro Fernandez Almendras (Chile, 2013). Project Manager: Markus Duffner
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STEP N StepIn is an initiative designed as an interdisciplinary and international exchange think tank for distribution, exhibition and sales of auteur cinema. Selected industry key players are invited to take part in closed working sessions to assess the state of the film industry and propose practical ideas and strategies, followed by a public debrief session. Organized in partnership with Europa Distribution, Europa International and Europa Cinemas, this year’s StepIn will pay special attention to Canada.
LLIANCE FOR DEVELOPMENT
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Alliance for Development’s (AFD) concrete aim is to encourage co-development and co-productions between France, Italy and Germany, supported by their respective film institutions CNC, MiBACT and FFA. 8 projects are chosen among the bilateral co-development funds between France and Italy, Italy and Germany, and Germany and France. Switzerland, as the natural co-producing partner of these three countries, hosts this new annual rendezvous supported by the FOC in the context of the MEDIA compensatory measures. AFD is a crossroads for French-, German- and Italian-language film professionals which allows them to test their market potential and to find natural opportunities for early-stage creative and financing partnerships.
MATCH
ME!
Match Me! provides an informal networking platform for upcoming producers with projects in development. This year thanks to a partnership with Cinema do Brasil, CinemaChile, IMCINE and New Turkish Films, up to three producers per country are selected to introduce their works to potential co–producers, funds or sales companies through a tailor–made matchmaking service and a series of professional lunches with industry key players. Project Manager: Markus Duffner
STRY ACADEMY
INDU
An industry training program for young professionals working in the fields of international sales, marketing, distribution, exhibition and programming, created to help them extend their network through a workshop where they can interact with key players. Most recently, three international editions of the Locarno Industry Academy took place in Morelia at the FICM, in Brazil at Cinema do Brasil‘s BOUTIQUE, and in New York at NDNF Festival in collaboration with the Film Society of Lincoln Center. The academies are now open to candidates from Europe, Switzerland, Latin America and USA. Project Manager: Marion Klotz pardo.ch/industry With the support of the Federal Office of Culture (FOC, Switzerland) in the context of the MEDIA compensatory measures.
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Open Doors
Open Doors to South Asian talents The selection of eight projects and eight producers testifies to the diversity of a region – South Asia – with great cinematic promise. This range of proposals represents the first step along a path that Open Doors will be following for the next three editions, dedicating itself to the film industries of a single geographic area represented by Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The following titles have been selected for the Open Doors Hub 2016, to be presented at Locarno to European and international partners between 6th and 9th August: Cinema, City and Cats by Ishtiaque Zico, Bangladesh; Craving (Ta Ku Tha Lo Chin Thee) by Maung Okkar, Myanmar; Day After Tomorrow by Kamar Ahmad Simon, Bangladesh; House of My Fathers by Suba Sivamukaran, Sri Lanka; Season of Dragonflies (Jhyalincha) by Abinash Bikram Shah, Nepal; The Cineaste by Aboozar Amini, Afghanistan; The Red Phallus by Tashi Gyeltshen, Bhutan; and Then They Would be Gone (Mela Chaar Dinan Da) by Maheen Zia, Pakistan. Among this year’s innovations is the Open Doors Lab, which, explains Sophie Bourdon, Head of Open Doors, will offer training for
eight South Asian producers combined with personalized accompaniment before and after the Festival, to encourage them to embrace the specificities of the international market. This addition stems from the experience built over the section’s 13-year support of professionals from countries in the South and East. Among the delegation of the Open Doors Lab, taking place from 4th to 9th August in Locarno, are: Aadnan Imtiaz Ahmed, Kino-Eye Films, Bangladesh; Abu Shahed Emon, Batayan Productions, Bangladesh; Rubaiyat Hossain, Khona Talkies, Bangladesh; Jigme Lhendhup, Evolving Artists, Bhutan; We Ra Aung, Green Age Film Production, Myanmar; Thu Thu Shein, Third Floor Production, Myanmar; Wang Shin Hong, Myanmar Montage Productions, Myanmar and Min Bahadur Bham, Shooney Films Pvt. Ltd., Nepal. Supported since its inauguration by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Open Doors’ mission is to highlight and support film professionals from countries in the South and the East where independent filmmaking is vulnerable. l. b.
Beyond the Festival
On the road to Dolce Vita lifestyle On the Grand Tour of Switzerland, the journey is the goal. This route will lead you 1000 miles through four language regions, over five Alpine passes, to eleven UNESCO World Heritage Sites as well as two biospheres and along 22 lakes, one of them the well-known Lake Maggiore. Thanks to its privileged location, the climate and the stunning landscape along our lakeshores, the Lake Maggiore region and its surrounding valleys present an ideal
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stage during your Grand tour of Switzerland. Palms and glaciers, ancient churches and modern architecture, quiet valleys and international events make this region unique and fascinating. Our hiking trail network includes more than 1,400 km of paths from the lakeside winding through the valleys and up towards the summits of our mountains. You can discover the most beautiful corners of the Lake Maggiore region by car, in the saddle of your motorbike, on a bike or
on a romantic train journey full of nostalgia, with the Centovalli Railway. While visiting Locarno for the film festival don’t miss the chance to discover the many facets of this exceptional destination …Experience a unique and unforgettable encounter! Your Holiday in Ticino, Switzerland; get inspired: www.ascona-locarno.com
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A Festival History 1946
The great Italian neorealism passes through here. The year is 1946, first edition of the Festival. Among the 15 movies in program, there is also Roma città aperta. At the award ceremony the Jury – there is also a 25-years-old Alida Valli – ignores it, just like it will do the very next year with Paisà. Only on the third attempt, with Germania anno zero, in 1948, Roberto Rossellini is awarded with the Grand Prix.
1984
A very distinctive haircut, the deep gaze and the characteristics of the New Yorker downtown scene of that period. In the collection of Locarno’s great discoveries, we cannot avoid to mention Jim Jarmusch. In 1984, his Stranger than Paradise – developed with many ideas and a few money – comes to the Concorso and is immediately awarded with the Pardo d’oro.
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1949
Ladri di biciclette, directed by Vittorio De Sica (here with Gina Lollobrigida), won the Special Jury Prize. The Festival became a regular rendezvous for the high season of Italian neo-realism, and as early as 1954 it was Locarno that organized the first ever retrospective of the startling new directions taken by the immediate post-war Italian cinema.
1990
And it was at Locarno that the new Iranian cinema made an impact, and was subsequently recognised throughout Europe and the entire world. From its progenitor Abbas Kiarostami (here, in 1990, for his film Khaneye doust kodjast? – Where is my friend’s house?) and back in 1995 for what was the first retrospective of his work to be organized, to Jafar Panahi who in 1997 won Locarno’s major award for Ayneh (The Mirror).
1959
The years of division into the French cinema. Cannes, 1959: François Truffaut brings to the competition Les quatre cents coups, a milestone. The very year after Jean-Luc Godard signs a masterpiece like À bout de souffle. But the first Nouvelle Vague film comes from Locarno. In 1958 Le beau Serge, Claude Chabrol’s debut work, is awarded with the prize for best directing.
2003
The Festival’s feeling for Asian cinema dates back a long time, as evidenced by the many Golden Leopards won by Chinese and Japanese films, and the high profile afforded to some of the most interesting new generation of filmmakers. In 2003 the South Korean filmmaker Kim Ki-Duk featured in the Concorso internazionale with his Bom yeoreum gaeul gyeoul geurigo bom (Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring).
1960
It is 1960. The arrival in Locarno of Marlene Dietrich, along with Joseph von Sternberg, is a vision. All eyes are on her, and the paparazzi even follow the diva when she wants to shop on the lakeside of Ascona. Then comes the night, and her entrance in the park of the Grand Hotel for the evening screening of the film, suddenly becomes a core scene in the history of the Festival.
2005
Piazza Grande stage. Suddenly, Wim Wenders grabs the microphone and says (in Italian): “Everybody is asking me what does it mean to receive a Pardo d’onore. Well, now I know: I have become a pardo too”. At the same time he lifts up his sweater and, surprisingly, shows a leopard-skin tshirt. The consequent applause is still one of the longest recorded in the history of the Festival.
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1964
He is a 30-years-old Czechoslovakian youngster who wins the Vela d’oro at the Festival, with his debut feature movie. A great revelation. With Black Peter, Milos Forman shows the daily atmosphere of a Czechoslovakian small town. But that’s not all. The audience can also foresee the feelings of the young people who are ready for rebellion, some years before Prague Spring.
2006
Piazza Grande as a launching pad for movies which then take off, reaching the statue of the Academy Awards. For Locarno, 2006 is really a year of grace. First, the great spy-thriller film Das Leben der Anderen, which leaves thousands of people in the audience breathless; then comes the grotesque soul of the American comedy Little Miss Sunshine, offering plenty of contagious laughter. A few months later, both movies are awarded by the Academy.
15
1972
Pardo d’oro with his debut movie. Also for Mike Leigh Locarno was the incipit of a cinematographic journey which has made him one of the masters of contemporary cinema. In 1972 Bleak Moments arises from a Concorso internazionale which sees the participation of another great British filmmaker: Ken Loach, with Family Life.
2013
A cyclone also known as Werner Herzog brings an air of adventure and grand cinema to Locarno. And not just to the big Piazza Grande screen, the perfect backdrop to give bulk to the titanic undertaking of Fitzcarraldo. The contagion is everywhere: a crowd of over a thousand fans attends the Masterclass given by the Pardo d’onore Swisscom.
1981
In 1981 the Concorso internazionale sees the participation of the debut movie of a director destined to become a touchstone of American independent cinema. Together with Monty Montgomery she signs the movie Breakdown (which later will be titled The Loveless). Her name is Kathryn Bigelow, and with Locarno it will be a spark of love. She will come back in 1993 as a member of the official jury and in 1997 for the great retrospective of the 50th year of the Festival.
2014
Just before the screening of Sils Maria by Olivier Assayas, the winner of the Excellence Award Moët & Chandon 2014, Juliette Binoche, takes the stage and immediately enchants the Piazza Grande crowds.
1983
It is his first overseas trip. It is his graduation thesis and, consequently, also his first feature film: Joe’s Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads. In other words, the story of a barber shop which is actually a front of clandestine betting. It is the movie which made the world aware of Spike Lee and was awarded with the Pardo d’oro in 1983.
2015
In 2015, the Piazza Grande stage hosts a cavalcade of big names from world cinema, from Edward Norton to Andy Garcia. But once again, what amazes the Festival’s audience is the willingness of certain directors to talk about themselves and their films. From this perspective, maverick filmmaker Michael Cimino’s conversation with the public proves particularly memorable. A flood of anecdotes, memories and reflections that no one – not even the great American director himself – had any desire to interrupt. l. b.
PardoLive
For 68 years the Festival del film Locarno has been the greatest open air school of cinema, fuelled by the spirit of discovery and innovation. Building on this spirit in 2010 we gave birth to the Locarno Summer Academy with the aim of assisting the development of emerging talents in the world of cinema, maximising Locarno’s unique qualities as a meeting-place. We want the Summer Academy to be a lab where one can get a better understanding and be fully involved in the current changes occurring in the entire cinema world.
Filmmakers Academy
In 2016 we will offer 5 different sections who will select the best 100 young talents, favouring quality over quantity and offering personally-tailored activities. Announcements concerning the Locarno Summer Academy’s initiatives can be consulted on: pardo.ch/education Applications now open.
Industry Academy
The Filmmakers Academy is an initiative for young filmmakers from around the world who have completed one or more short films that have been selected in international festivals. Every year directors, producers and other industry professionals come to work and think about cinema with the participants.
Critics Academy The Critics Academy involves international young critics who will work on a daily basis, under the editorial guidance of Indiewire editor-in-chief Eric Kohn. The participants will be covering the Festival with reviews of films in the selection, articles on sidebar events, in-depth reflection on the various program sections or interviews with the Festival’s guests.
Cinema e gioventù
The Industry Academy is a training program dedicated to young professionals in distribution, international sales, marketing, exhibition and programming, giving the new comers the opportunity to actively think about the independent cinema business and its future. This is a Think Tank, a dedicated time and space where experiences and visions can be shared in order to create a needed proximity and dialogue between established industry key players and the young generations.
Documentary Summer School Already in its 16th year, the Documentary Summer School is jointly organized by the Università della Svizzera italiana and the Festival del film Locarno, in collaboration with the Semaine de la critique. It offers places for up to university students in the fields of cinema, media and communication from all the world.
The long-established Cinema&Gioventù program, now in its 57th edition, brings together college students, from Swiss and north Italian vocational schools and universities.
Facts & Figures 2015 Total Audience
Screenings Sites
Feature Films
Short Films
World Premieres
164,000
10
179
87
97
Accredited Professional Delegates
Industry Accredited
Accredited Companies
3,233
1,105
706