Despite the coronavirus, the Locarno Film Festival bends but does not break. The Swiss event, one of the oldest dedicated to the seventh art, defends tooth and nail independent cinema. It will open its doors from August 5 to 15 in an innovative, half-virtual, half-physical format, where the competition will not concern finished films, ready to be screened, but productions in progress.
This section called “The Films After Tomorrow” aims to support the production of films that may not be completed due to the pandemic. In all, 504 international and 43 Swiss projects were submitted to the selection committee. Ten international feature films and ten Swiss productions are in the running. With the key, two Golden Leopards and an endowment of 62,500 euros for the winner of each sector, as well as sponsored prizes.
In pursuit of a dairy cow
The winners will be decided by a jury composed of Israeli and Lesotho filmmakers Nadav Lapid (Synonyms ) and Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese ( This Is Not a Burial, It's a Resurrection ). They will be supported by American director Kelly Reichardt, whose nineteenth-century Oregon western First Cow , noticed at the Berlinale, will open this 73rd edition. French moviegoers will be able to discover the greed aroused by a prodigious dairy cow the following month at the Deauville American Film Festival.
The trio will thus be able to examine the projects of Argentina Lucrecia Martel Chocobar , of Brazilian Juliana Rojas Cidade; Campo , The Fabric of the Human Body of the duo Verena Paravel and Lucien Castaing-Taylor, Eureka of Lisandro Alonso, the Franco-German co-production Human Flowers of Flesh by Helena Wittmann, the Franco-Chinese film Come From Ikotun by Wang Bing, When The Waves Are Gone by the Filipino Lav Diaz, Nowhere Near by her compatriot Miko Revereza, Little Solange by the French director Axelle Ropert, and the last- born from Miguel Gomes Savagery .
A best-of of the best films from the Festival since its creation
Festival-goers will be able to discover the projects of the Golden Leopard contenders on the festival website where the content of each file (note of intent, interview, etc.) will be posted online. The filmmakers in the spotlight will also have the task of choosing their favorite film from previous editions of the Locarno Festival. This best-of will be on the program for this 2020 edition. This compilation includes, for example, Germany year zero by Roberto Rossellini, released in 1948 or Stranger Than Paradise which revealed Jim Jarmusch in 1984.
Swiss productions are entitled to their own jury. It is made up of Italian-Swiss director and author Alina Marazzi, Argentinian director and performer Matías Piñeiro as well as Iranian director and producer Mohsen Makhmalbaf.
Initially, the 73rd edition of the Locarno Festival was to be completely virtual, but as the epidemic evolved, artistic director Lili Hinstin was encouraged to consider a series of physical screenings in three cinemas in Locarno and Muralto. First Cow will be screened at the Grand Rex on opening night. Kelly Reichardt will participate virtually in this event, specifies La Tribune de Genève . The complete selection of national and international short films in the Pardi di domani competition will also be entitled to the honors of the dark rooms. " These months of distance have shown us how important the experience of the cinema hall is ", underlined Lili Hinstin.
The artistic director also has surprises in store for festival-goers with "secret sessions". She selected ten films without geographic, temporal or festival specific requirements. The days and times of the screening are known, but not the titles, which will only be revealed once in the room.
