The 75th Locarno Film Festival has unveiled the rich program of the event to be held in the Swiss town from August 3 to 13.
At the presentation press conference, newly appointed director Giona A. Nazzaro listed the titles admitted in the eagerly awaited competitions, tributes to filmmakers of the past and special projects. “The Festival presents a broad, diverse and inclusive program, with the international competition hosting established names in world cinema, confirmations and absolute discoveries” said Nazzaro.
Among the most anticipated titles are the action thriller starring Brad Pitt, Bullet Train, in the Piazza Grande section, the two Italian titles in competition, Il pataffio (What’s Next Italy 2021), starring Alessandro Gassman and Valerio Mastandrea, the European co-production Gigi la legge directed by Alessandro Comodin, and the new work by Russian filmmaker Aleksandr Sokurov entitled Skazka.
Also among the most anticipated titles in Piazza Grande are the thriller Where the Crawdads Sing, starring Normal People revelation Daisy Edgar-Jones, and Michele Vannucci’s Italian Delta (What’s Next Italy 2021) starring Alessandro Borghi and Luigi Lo Cascio, which will have its world premiere.
In the Fuori Concorso section, however, we find the thriller-horror Candy Land by John Swab and starring Eden Brolin, William Baldwin and Olivia Luccardi, while in the Cineasti del presente section, Tereza Nvotová’s The Nightsiren (Film Co-Production Market 2018).
There will also be many personalities who will pass through the Locarno Film Festival to receive awards: the Pardo d’onore Manor to Kelly Reichardt, the Vision Award Ticinomoda to Laurie Anderson, the Locarno Kids Award la Mobiliare to Gitanjali Rao, the Premio Raimondo Rezzonico to Jason Blum, the Pardo alla carriera Ascona-Locarno to Costa-Gavras and the Lifetime Achievement Award to Matt Dillon.
Another new feature of this edition will be the Pardo Verde WWF and the Green Film Fund: in fact, these are the first initiatives aimed at raising awareness of green practices through cinema and its narratives.
Great anticipation also for the Retrospettiva section curated by Roberto Turigliatto and Bernard Eisenschitz and dedicated to Douglas Sirk, one of the great masters of Hollywood melodrama.
