The official program of the 72nd edition of the Locarno Film Festival was announced at a press conference today, Wednesday 17th of July. Also announced were the Leopard Club Award to Hilary Swank, the Vision Award Ticinomoda to Claire Atherton, the Premio Utopia to Enrico Ghezzi and the Premio Cinema Ticino to Fulvio Bernasconi. The 72nd edition was presented by Locarno’s new artistic director ... more >
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LOCARNO ’19: Hilary Swank to be honored, Bruno Ganz tribute in the works
The 72nd Locarno Film Festival will take place from the 7th to the 17th of August 2019
EXTRA! Rossellini’s “Europe ’51” or one woman’s journey from bourgeois ennui to personal fulfillment (1952)
Release year: 1952
Ingrid Bergman, Giulietta Massina and Ettore Giannini
Directed by Roberto Rossellini
In "Europe '51" Irene (Ingrid Bergman) is a society woman who searches for life’s meaning after the accidental death of her son. She’s a worldly and superficial woman, but her son’s death will push her to seek others and help those in need in a bid to achieve a kind of holy state. The first scene of the film is told in perfect cadence and Stendhalian efficiency : Irene, lady of the house, is ... more >
“WHEN THEY SEE US,” a sobering reminder of an America we’d rather not think about
Series stands as inglorious symbol of institutionalized racism
Jharrel Jerome, Jovan Adepo, Michael K. Williams and Logan Marshall-Green
Directed by Ava DuVernay
At the heart of Ava DuVernay’s “When They See Us" is the fate of Antron McCray (Caleel Harris, Jovan Adepo), Kevin Richardson (Asante Blackk, Justin Cunningham), Yusef Salaam (Ethan Herisse, Chris Chalk), Raymond Santana ( Marquis Rodriguez, Freddy Miyares) and Korey Wise (Jharrel Jerome). The five black men from Harlem were wrong arrested and convicted for the supposed rape of the Central Park ... more >
THE SON, on loss and comradeship in the ranks of Russia’s special task forces
[documentary]
Russia’s Spetsnaz, or special task force, is a cohort of young soldiers who continuously train in preparation for taking on enemies of the state. They pay tribute to fallen comrades killed in past conflicts, sometimes under mysterious circumstances. In his film “The Son,” Russian-born filmmaker Alexander Abaturov chooses to ignore the whys and the hows of the high-stakes political game that is ... more >
CANNES FESTIVAL – Winners announced, the Bong Joon-Ho-directed PARASITE wins top honors
(CANNES, France) - A family of grifters hustles the perfect family in Bong Joon-Ho's meticulously-directed "Parasite." And they go all the way to Cannes gold! This is the beauty of the Cannes Festival, the jury and the results can be full of surprises--even bad ones. This is a year, also, when the press and the jury are aligned--on who should win top gold. For the rest, who knows what went on in ... more >
CANNES FESTIVAL – Three members of the Cannes press corps give their forecast for the winners, MALICK and ALMODOVAR among the favorites
The Cannes Festival closes today
(CANNES, France) Laurence Salfati has been a part of the Cannes Festival press corps for nearly twenty years. She works for Lyon-based Radio Judaica and has interviewed all of France's greatest film stars. René Chiche has been coming to Cannes for about as long as his aforementioned colleague. Chiche is a writer, a TV producer and a journalist. He owns a news agency that's based in Paris and runs ... more >
CANNES FESTIVAL – “OH MERCY!” (“Roubaix, une lumière”)
This film is competing for the Palme D'Or
The town of Roubaix in France, located near the Belgian border, is rather like the Detroit of France. Yesterday’s city of industry has become a broken shell of a town. In the film's opening as local police chief Inspector Daoud (Roschdy Zem) cruises by a burning car he calls it in, the fire foreshadowing tragedy. Daoud is a fictional character who was added in by director Arnaud Desplechin. His ... more >