The renowned festival on Lake Maggiore takes place for the last time under the direction of Carlo Chatrian, who has curated a humor-filled program for 2018. German films are contenders in Locarno's various competitions.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/Keystone/U. Flueeler
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The lure of the Locarno Film Festival
A movie about a sports scam, a retrospective and special honors for a Hollywood actress: The 2018 Locarno Film Festival is sure to draw the crowds. The city's Piazza Grande square is one of the more spectacular venues.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Keystone/U. Flueeler
The Piazza Grande
The film screenings on Piazza Grande are one of Locarno's attractions. Against this spectacular historical backdrop, 17 films will be shown on the world's largest screen. Nine of them are competing for the coveted audience award. Films will also be vying for the Piazza Grande Award given by Variety, the renowned US film magazine, as well as the Swatch First Feature Award.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Keystone/U. Flueeler
A comedy starts off the festival
Les Beaux Esprits, a feature film by French director Vianney Lebasque, is based on a true story: a few mentally impaired athletes drop out of a French basketball team, and the coach fears losing a grant for his team. He decides on a scam - and travels to the Sydney Paralympics with a team of healthy players pretending to be mentally disabled.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Locarno Filmfestival
Leo McCarey retrospective
Already successful, the American director, screenwriter and producer came up with the idea of Stan Laurel (r.) and Oliver Hardy as a comedy duo in 1926. Leo McCarey (1898-1969) had an unprecedented Hollywood career. The 1929 film "Liberty" (above) is just one of 109 films shown at the McCarey retrospective in Locarno.
Seeking nationwide attention, a trio of right-wing terrorists carries out a series of brutal attacks in this film by German director Jan Bonny. A Winter's Tale is disturbingly topical in light of the recent trial of the NSU neo-Nazi gang in Germany. The film is not only about right-wing extremism however. As it says in the press release: "Love turns into hate, desire into murder."
Image: picture alliance/dpa/Heimatfilm
'What doesn't kill us'
A psychotherapist and divorced father, Maximilian worries about his patients, his daughters, his ex-wife and his melancholy dog. Max's predictable world is shaken when he meets Sophie, a foley artist. Sandra Nettelbeck'a tragicomedy tells the story of a man facing a midlife crisis.
Image: ZDF/Mathias Bothor
'All Good'
Nothing is good in Eva Trobisch's film "All good," a movie about rape and its impact. Trobisch and her team of actors, above all leading actress Aenne Schwarz (l.), tread carefully with this sensitive topic. For this film, Schwarz won the new talent award for best actress, and Trobisch won the new talent award for best director at the 2018 Munich Film Festival.
Image: Trimaphilm, Goetze Trauer
Special awards for Meg Ryan, Ethan Hawke
Flashes of subtle irony and witty humor in dreamy, innocent characters: The Locarno Film Festival gives the Leopard Club Award in tribute to American actress Meg Ryan, known the world over for romantic comedies including the "When Harry met Sally" from 1989 (above). American actor Ethan Hawke receives the Excellence Award and presents his new film ,"Blaze", in Locarno.
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Farewell to Carlo Chatrian
This year's festival, which gives visitors the opportunity to enjoy open air movies on the Piazza Grande square from August 1 to 11, is the last one at Locarno for artistic director Carlo Chatrian. In 2019 he takes over the management of the renowned Berlin Film Festival along with Mariette Rissenbeek.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Keystone/U. Flueeler
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As they do with Cannes, Berlin and Venice, filmmakers and film fans worldwide flock to Locarno every year. In the evenings on the impressive Piazza Grande, the lovely little city in the Italian speaking region of southern Switzerland boasts spectacular open-air screenings with 8,000 spectators watching one of the world's biggest movie screens.
This year 17 films are scheduled at that central square. Nine are world premieres and thus in contention for the prestigious audience prize. Fifteen movies and documentaries from various countries compete for the Golden Leopard, the festival's top prize, whose jury is chaired by Jia Zhangke, director of the film Still Life.
With their breathtaking backdrop, outdoor screenings at the Piazza Grande are much loved by audiencesImage: picture-alliance/dpa/Keystone/U. Flueeler
Laughter to counteract 'contemporary thunder'
From August 1-11, 2018, Artistic Director Carlo Chatrian's team presents a program that is "lighter and freer" than in past seasons. Laughter is encoraged to counteract the "contemporary thunder" that Chatrian discerns in the current state of the world. Opening the film festival is the French comedy Les Beaux Esprits by Vianney Lebasque and Liberty, the 1929 silent movie with slapstick stars Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. The director, Leo McCarey, had a great Hollywood carreer from the 1920s to the 1950s and is the subject of a festival retrospective with an astonishing 109 films.
International highlights include Ying Liang's semi-autobiographical film A Family Tour and Kent Jones's baby-boomer drama Diane, which took the main prize at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York. Winning a lifetime achievement award in Locarno, Frenchman Bruno Dumont presents the world premiere of his series CoinCoin et Les Z'Inhumains (CoinCoin and the Extra Humans). The Italian Taviani brothers are honored as well, among other things with a special screening of Good Morning, Babylon.
German films in several sections
The 2018 Locarno festival features over 200 movies, documentaries and short films, including several entries from Germany. Centering on young right-wing extremists, Jan Bonny's drama Wintermärchen (A Winter's Tale) is competing in the international competition. The film was produced by Bettina Brokemper of Cologne, who is known for courageously mounting projects such as Wild, the erotic study with director Nicolette Krebitz from 2016.
Actors in 'A Winter's Tale' (from left): Lars Eidinger, Jean-Luc Bubert, Ricarda Seifried and Thomas SchubertImage: picture alliance/dpa/Heimatfilm
In the tragicomedy Was uns nicht umbringt (What Doesn't Kill Us), director Sandra Nettelbeck, famous for Mostly Martha, tells the tale of a no longer young man in crisis. Nettelbeck and her main actors Barbara Auer, Sophie Rois and August Zirner will personally present her new film at the Piazza Grande.
In her movie debut Alles ist gut (All Good), the young director Eva Trobisch illuminates the travails of a young woman trying to reorganize her life after being raped. The film has been entered in the competition section for young filmmakers.
Celebrating its 70th anniversary this year, the Locarno International Film Festival features outdoor screenings, art cinema and lots of leopards. This year was hot and sunny, so visitors had to get creative to cool down.
Image: DW/J. Hitz
A festival for film buffs and connoisseurs
For 10 days in August, the charming city of Locarno in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland becomes the center of the international film world. Locarno is one of the most significant film festivals in Europe - following Cannes, Berlin and Venice. Here, visitors can enjoy the unique experience of watching movies outside, such as on the Piazza Grande shown above.
Image: Locarno Festival
Stars at the festival
Though fewer in numbers than at festivals like Cannes or Venice, big-name stars do make an appearance in Locarno each year. Among the celebrities walking across the red carpet this year were US actor Adrien Brody and film icon Nastassja Kinski, both of whom received an honorary award. The Golden Leopard for best film is shared equally by the winning director and producer.
Image: Locarno Festival/Marin Mikelin
A unique outdoor film experience
After the city's Grand Hotel was considered too small, the Piazza Grande became the heart of the festival in 1971. Heavy rains forced organizers back then to drill holes in the plastic chairs that had been set up for the viewers. Since summer storms are common in the region, festival regulars know to bring raincoats along.
Image: DW/J. Hitz
Appreciation for film d'auteur
Particularly popular at the Locarno festival are films that were directed and produced by one and the same person. Quite a few filmmakers started their career here, among them Spike Lee. When Jim Jarmusch (pictured) was invited to Locarno in 1984, he was already a famous filmmaker. His "Stranger than Paradise" won best debut film in Cannes, and was also awarded the Golden Leopard.
Image: Locarno Festival
Locarno celebrates its 70th anniversary
In its 70th anniversary year, a new location has been added to the festival - the so-called PalaCinema, a modern movie theater right next to the medieval Castello. The festival tries to attract young people from the region with a street fair. LaRotonda is particularly popular - even though it's located in the middle of a roundabout.
Image: DW/J. Hitz
German film in Locarno
German contributions enjoy a good reputation at the festival, with several German films usually running in both the jury and the audience competitions. Among the German filmmakers who have been awarded a Golden Leopard are Wolfgang Becker, Werner Herzog and Wim Wenders, who dressed up as a leopard himself when he received an honorary leopard in 2005.
Image: Locarno Festival
Sweating at the cinema
This year, fans are a particularly trendy accessory, including those with a festival-appropriate leopard design. Summer temperatures exceeded 35 degrees Celcius during the first half of the festival, making the fans not just stylish but also very practical.
Image: DW/J. Hitz
Dolce vita in Locarno
Another way of cooling down in Locarno is to jump into the Lago Maggiore or the Maggia River between screenings. The region in Switzerland is a popular destination for tourists in the summer.
Image: DW/J. Hitz
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Hollywood glamour and goodbye to Chatrian
Many say Locarno's special charm is the balance of serious art and entertainment, the glamour factor being secondary — summed up in the festival motto, "Here the films are the stars".
A Hollywood breeze does waft through the Swiss mountains, however, when US star actor and director Ethan Hawke presents his new film Blaze and when the festival recognizes American actress Meg Ryan with the Leopard Club Award for her contribution to film history. Famous examples include her starring roles in the international blockbusters When Harry Met Sally (1989), Sleepless in Seattle (1993) and You've Got Mail (1998) — all of which became cult films through her unique combination of inspired performance, beauty and irony, the festival's organizers said.
Carlo Chatrian, artistic director of the Locarno Festival since 2012, moves to Berlin in 2019 Image: Getty Images/AFP/T. Schwarz
Bidding farewell this season is Carlo Chatrian, festival director since 2012. Going forward, he will co-head the Berlinale festival together with Mariette Rissenbeek from 2019, succeeding the German festival's current head, Dieter Kosslick,
Chatrian told the German Press Agency that his last season at Locarno would feature movies "concentrating on personal stories."
Following Cannes, Berlin and Venice, the Locarno festival, founded in 1946, is one of the world's most prominent forums for the art of moviemaking. On August 5, 2018, it takes an important step into the future by signing the Charter for Equality and Diversity, pledging to immediately keep count of gender ratios among film directors. Locarno is the first festival after Cannes to sign the charter.