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 >
NEWS
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
Chantal Akerman rising
In this male-dominated business women filmmakers have always been too small a minority. There is progress being made but women’s voices deserve better recognition. Chantal Akerman was a founder of the art-of-turning-traditional-narrative-on-its-head school of filmmaking. This is evident in one of her finest works, 1975’s “Jeanne Dielman, 23 Qai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles.” This notable film ... more >
HBO’s “Chernobyl,” a timely and empathic drama about one of the greatest technological disasters of our time
This series is currently airing on HBO
1986’s Chernobyl accident was the result of a flawed reactor design operated by inadequately-trained personnel. The disaster was the only accident in the history of commercial nuclear power in which radiation-related fatalities occurred. It’s estimated that the incident resulted in as many as 93,000 fatalities. The HBO miniseries “Chernobyl” examines the domino effect of incompetence and ... more >
The life and times of DEE REES
She was nominated for an Oscar, has another twenty-nine wins & fifty nominations under her belt
In the male-dominated film business women filmmakers have always been too small a minority. There is progress being made but women’s voices deserve to be heard more often. My look at Women filmmakers continues with Dee Rees, film director and screenwriter. Rees is an alumna of New York University's graduate film program and a Sundance screenwriting & directing Lab fellow. “Nothing I do ... more >
CANNES FESTIVAL – The grifter family versus the perfect family in the entertaining PARASITE
This film is competing for the Palme D'Or
“Parasite,” directed by Bong Joon-Ho, is a comedy that glistens with irony about an elaborate con. The covetous greed of the poor is pitted against the dull indulgence of the wealthy in a manichean duel for supremacy, to realistic effect. Will the world one day see an all-out war between the classes? Occupy Wall Street, the Yellow Vest movement, are those harbingers? These movements have come and ... more >
CANNES FESTIVAL – Moving and magical PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE
This film is competing for a Palme D'Or
The year is 1770. Marianne (Noémie Merlant), the daughter of a renowned painter and a painter herself travels to an island off the coast of Brittany, tasked with painting the portrait of a noblewoman, Héloïse (Adèle Haenel). Héloïse has recently left the convent where she led a life of seclusion because of a family tragedy: Her sister has met a tragic end on the verge of marrying a Milanese ... more >
CANNES FESTIVAL – Diao Yinan’s WILD GOOSE LAKE
"Wild Goose Lake" is competing for the Palme D'Or
A gang leader on the lam in search of redemption. A prostitute eager to gain her freedom back. Together they will decide to play one last gamble with their fate, the proverbial last big hit. Within this narrative proposition, a discrete romantic plot that will come to fit within the film’s dramatic structure. This is “Wild Goose Lake,” by Chinese director Yi'nan Diao, a film that’s inferior to his ... more >
