Easy to overlook in the looming shadow of the Venice, Telluride, Toronto, and New York Film Festivals (and all of the awards season hoopla they portend), Switzerland’s historic Locarno Film Festival has remained so distinct and essential precisely because of its refusal to concede to industry pressures or chase attention over artistry.
While the magical Piazza Grande has been home to its fair share of glitzy outdoor screenings over the years — the next few days will see the 8,000-seat town square transform into an impromptu “Bullet Train” station, for example — Locarno has always prided itself on providing a more curious and less hostile platform for elite auteurs whose work may not conform to the commercial demands of the international marketplace; recent winners of the festival’s prestigious Golden Leopard award include Pedro Costa (“Vitalina Varela”), Lav Diaz (“From What Is Before”), and the great Chinese documentarian Wang Bing (“Mrs.
While the magical Piazza Grande has been home to its fair share of glitzy outdoor screenings over the years — the next few days will see the 8,000-seat town square transform into an impromptu “Bullet Train” station, for example — Locarno has always prided itself on providing a more curious and less hostile platform for elite auteurs whose work may not conform to the commercial demands of the international marketplace; recent winners of the festival’s prestigious Golden Leopard award include Pedro Costa (“Vitalina Varela”), Lav Diaz (“From What Is Before”), and the great Chinese documentarian Wang Bing (“Mrs.
- 8/2/2022
- by David Ehrlich and Sophie Monks Kaufman
- Indiewire
Halted by Covid-19, and now part of Locarno’s The Films After Tomorrow competition, Lav Diaz’s “When the Waves Are Gone” looks set to mark the first time the Filipino auteur will enjoy the upsides of full-force international co-production.
That co-production involve, moreover, some of highest-profile art film producers currently working in Europe.
Winner of Locarno Golden Leopard (2014’s “From What Is Before”) and a Venice Golden Lion (2016’s “The Woman Who Left”), Díaz movies have been set apart not only by their extraordinary lengths – 2016’s “A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery” clocked in at just over six hours – but also their lack of resources.
“It’s understood that Diaz’s low-budget techniques involve a certain suspension of belief: thus, we accept that a powerful dictator only seems to have a staff of two,” critic Jonathan Romney wrote of last year’s “The Halt,” a low-fi sci-fi drama set in a 2034 dystopia.
That co-production involve, moreover, some of highest-profile art film producers currently working in Europe.
Winner of Locarno Golden Leopard (2014’s “From What Is Before”) and a Venice Golden Lion (2016’s “The Woman Who Left”), Díaz movies have been set apart not only by their extraordinary lengths – 2016’s “A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery” clocked in at just over six hours – but also their lack of resources.
“It’s understood that Diaz’s low-budget techniques involve a certain suspension of belief: thus, we accept that a powerful dictator only seems to have a staff of two,” critic Jonathan Romney wrote of last year’s “The Halt,” a low-fi sci-fi drama set in a 2034 dystopia.
- 8/8/2020
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Jean-Marie Straub’s short film La France Contre Les Robots to close festival; juries unveiled.
Kelly Reichardt’s First Cow will open this year’s Locarno Film Festival, which will run as a hybrid edition from August 5-15.
First Cow premiered at Telluride in 2019 and was also in competition at the Berlinale. Starring John Magaro, Orion Lee, Toby Jones and Ewen Bremner, it was released by A24 in the US in March, before switching to VoD. The film will be screened at Locarno’s GranRex theater with the director attending live online.
The festival will close with Jean-Marie Straub’s...
Kelly Reichardt’s First Cow will open this year’s Locarno Film Festival, which will run as a hybrid edition from August 5-15.
First Cow premiered at Telluride in 2019 and was also in competition at the Berlinale. Starring John Magaro, Orion Lee, Toby Jones and Ewen Bremner, it was released by A24 in the US in March, before switching to VoD. The film will be screened at Locarno’s GranRex theater with the director attending live online.
The festival will close with Jean-Marie Straub’s...
- 7/29/2020
- by 1101184¦Orlando Parfitt¦38¦
- ScreenDaily
The special event was created to support feature films that have stalled at various stages of production due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Locarno Film Festival has announced the line-up of 20 features that it has selected for its innovative The Films After Tomorrow initiative.
The special event has been created to support feature films that have stalled at various stages of production due to the Covid-19 pandemic which also led to the cancellation of the physical edition of the 73rd edition of Locarno.
It is part of the festival’s special ”Locarno 2020 - For the Future of Films” programme which...
The Locarno Film Festival has announced the line-up of 20 features that it has selected for its innovative The Films After Tomorrow initiative.
The special event has been created to support feature films that have stalled at various stages of production due to the Covid-19 pandemic which also led to the cancellation of the physical edition of the 73rd edition of Locarno.
It is part of the festival’s special ”Locarno 2020 - For the Future of Films” programme which...
- 6/25/2020
- by 1100388¦Melanie Goodfellow¦69¦
- ScreenDaily
Carlo Chatrian’s rapid rise to becoming Berlin’s artistic director stems from the steely resolve of a soft-spoken film lover with smarts and a clear sense of what he considers meaningful in contemporary cinema today.
The Italian film critic and curator previously served a five-year stint as artistic director of Switzerland’s Locarno Film Festival. He is considered a bold choice on the part of German culture minister Monika Gruetters, who led the search team for a new Berlinale topper after
longtime director Dieter Kosslick exited last year. Chatrian is tasked with rebooting the Berlinale’s lineup, which Kosslick critics said was too large and favored quantity over quality.
Chatrian says that in his job interview with the culture minister and the selection committee, he “told them what cinema means for me and what I think festivals are.” His vision for Berlin and also what he achieved at Locarno motivated their choice,...
The Italian film critic and curator previously served a five-year stint as artistic director of Switzerland’s Locarno Film Festival. He is considered a bold choice on the part of German culture minister Monika Gruetters, who led the search team for a new Berlinale topper after
longtime director Dieter Kosslick exited last year. Chatrian is tasked with rebooting the Berlinale’s lineup, which Kosslick critics said was too large and favored quantity over quality.
Chatrian says that in his job interview with the culture minister and the selection committee, he “told them what cinema means for me and what I think festivals are.” His vision for Berlin and also what he achieved at Locarno motivated their choice,...
- 2/17/2020
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Known for his epic–and epically long–films that examine the woeful past and troubled present of the Philippines, Lav Diaz has established an unmistakable name for himself and become a staple at A-list film festivals worldwide over the last decade.
He was awarded the Silver Bear Alfred Bauer Prize at the Berlinale for his 8-hour opus A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery, the Golden Leopard at Locarno for the 5.5-hour From What Is Before, and won over Sam Mendes’ jury to take home the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 2016 for The Woman Who Left.
His latest feature, The Halt (4 hours and 36 minutes in case anyone is keeping score), premiered at the Directors’ Fortnight sidebar in Cannes earlier this year and screened recently at Filmfest Hamburg. It’s set in 2034, when volcanic eruptions have plunged Southeast Asia into darkness and the Philippines is ruled by a ruthless...
He was awarded the Silver Bear Alfred Bauer Prize at the Berlinale for his 8-hour opus A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery, the Golden Leopard at Locarno for the 5.5-hour From What Is Before, and won over Sam Mendes’ jury to take home the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 2016 for The Woman Who Left.
His latest feature, The Halt (4 hours and 36 minutes in case anyone is keeping score), premiered at the Directors’ Fortnight sidebar in Cannes earlier this year and screened recently at Filmfest Hamburg. It’s set in 2034, when volcanic eruptions have plunged Southeast Asia into darkness and the Philippines is ruled by a ruthless...
- 10/17/2019
- by Zhuo-Ning Su
- The Film Stage
Diaz’s black and white sci-fi is set in in Filipino capital Manila in 2034.
Paris-based Indie Sales has acquired international sales rights to Filipino filmmaker Lav Diaz’s black and white sci-fi work The Halt, ahead of its premiere in Directors’ Fortnight.
The drama is set in Filipino capital Manila in 2034, which has been enveloped in darkness ever since massive volcanic eruptions in the Celebes Sea three years prior deprived Southeast Asia of sunlight.
It is a world in which “madmen control countries, communities, enclaves and new bubble cities. Cataclysmic epidemics ravage the continent. Millions have died and millions more...
Paris-based Indie Sales has acquired international sales rights to Filipino filmmaker Lav Diaz’s black and white sci-fi work The Halt, ahead of its premiere in Directors’ Fortnight.
The drama is set in Filipino capital Manila in 2034, which has been enveloped in darkness ever since massive volcanic eruptions in the Celebes Sea three years prior deprived Southeast Asia of sunlight.
It is a world in which “madmen control countries, communities, enclaves and new bubble cities. Cataclysmic epidemics ravage the continent. Millions have died and millions more...
- 5/2/2019
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Akanga Film Asia (Singapore), mm2 Entertainment (Singapore), Films de Force Majeure (France), and Volya Films (the Netherlands) are proud to announce that Yeo Siew Hua’s feature film, A Land Imagined, has won the Golden Leopard, the Locarno Film Festival’s Grand Prize for Best Film, at the 71st edition of the prestigious festival in Switzerland. This top prize was awarded by the International Competition jury, including director Sean Baker and writer Emmanuel CARRÈRE, and presided by China’s Jia Zhang-ke.
World premiering at Locarno Film Festival, one of the world’s longest-running festivals, A Land Imagined also clinched the 1st prize of the Festival’s Junior Jury Awards (by young film fans for the best director), plus a Special Mention from the Ecumenical Jury. In addition, independent critics presented A Land Imagined’s lead actress, Luna Kwok, with the Boccalino d’Oro Prize for Best Actress.
A...
World premiering at Locarno Film Festival, one of the world’s longest-running festivals, A Land Imagined also clinched the 1st prize of the Festival’s Junior Jury Awards (by young film fans for the best director), plus a Special Mention from the Ecumenical Jury. In addition, independent critics presented A Land Imagined’s lead actress, Luna Kwok, with the Boccalino d’Oro Prize for Best Actress.
A...
- 8/13/2018
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
After a prolonged search over the past year, the Berlin Film Festival has hired Carlo Chatrian as its new director, according to multiple German outlets, including the daily newspaper B.Z. Berlin. Chatrian, who served as artistic director of the Locarno Film Festival since 2013, will replace outgoing Berlin director Dieter Kosslick. Festival representatives did not respond to requests for comment.
Kosslick, who ran the festival since 2001, faced criticism in recent years for the caliber of films in the lineup. Consternation over his tenure reached a fever pitch last fall, when 79 German directors delivered an open letter to Spiegel Online demanding a “new start” to the festival as well as the hiring of “an outstanding curatorial personality who is passionate about cinema, well-connected internationally and capable of leading the festival into the future on an equal footing with Cannes and Venice.” Kosslick’s contract expires May 31, 2019.
The German Cultural Events Agency...
Kosslick, who ran the festival since 2001, faced criticism in recent years for the caliber of films in the lineup. Consternation over his tenure reached a fever pitch last fall, when 79 German directors delivered an open letter to Spiegel Online demanding a “new start” to the festival as well as the hiring of “an outstanding curatorial personality who is passionate about cinema, well-connected internationally and capable of leading the festival into the future on an equal footing with Cannes and Venice.” Kosslick’s contract expires May 31, 2019.
The German Cultural Events Agency...
- 6/19/2018
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
This November, over 100 films will be screening at AFI Fest 2014 in Los Angeles and more than a few of those flicks will be of the horror variety. Attendees hungry for vampire humor, coming-of-age terror, and frights that hit close to home should be happy to hear that What We Do in the Shadows, It Follows, and Goodnight Mommy are a few of the horror movies screening at the festival.
AFI Fest 2014 runs from November 6th – 13th in Los Angeles. To learn more, visit:
http://www.afi.com/afifest/default.aspx
These are a handful of the horror films playing at the festival:
“Goodnight Mommy (Ich Seh Ich Seh) – Twin boys fear that their mother, whose face is masked with bandages after plastic surgery, has been subsumed by an evil being. Written and directed by aunt-nephew filmmakers Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala. Cast: Susanne Wuest, Elias Schwarz, Lucas Schwarz. Austria.
From...
AFI Fest 2014 runs from November 6th – 13th in Los Angeles. To learn more, visit:
http://www.afi.com/afifest/default.aspx
These are a handful of the horror films playing at the festival:
“Goodnight Mommy (Ich Seh Ich Seh) – Twin boys fear that their mother, whose face is masked with bandages after plastic surgery, has been subsumed by an evil being. Written and directed by aunt-nephew filmmakers Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala. Cast: Susanne Wuest, Elias Schwarz, Lucas Schwarz. Austria.
From...
- 10/30/2014
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
★★★★☆"The memory of a cataclysm" is how a voiceover at the end of Lav Diaz's latest monumental feat, the Locarno-storming From What Is Before (Mula sa kung ano ang noon, 2014), describes the preceding five-and-a-half hours. One character foresees armageddon, while another promises that "hell is coming." In what could well be the director's most overtly political film to date, that ominous atmosphere and the early seventies setting are quite explicitly entwined with the rise of Ferdinand Marcos and his declaration of martial law. In some ways an almost-prequel to the allegories of the exceptional Norte, The End of History (2013), this is a mesmerising glance back at the death throes of a simpler time.
- 9/6/2014
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
Lav Diaz wins Golden Leopard for From What Is Before. An ambitious and challenging film by Filipino director Lav Diaz, who headed the international competition jury at last year’s Locarno Film Festival, has taken top honours himself at this year’s edition - From What is Before (Mula Sa Kung Ano Ang Noon), lasting 338 minutes, was awarded the Pardo d’Oro or Golden Leopard at a ceremony today (16 August). The film also took the Fipresci critics' prize.
Set in 1972-set, black-and-white period piece takes place against the background of uneasy atmosphere just before the country’s president Ferdinand Marcos placed the troubled country under martial law.
The jury, headed by Italian director Gianfranco Rosi, also included actresses Alice Braga and Connie Nielsen.
The Special Jury Prize went to a literary rom-com, Alex Ross Perry’s Listen Up Philip, starring Jason Schwartzman as a self-absorbed young novelist.
Lav Diaz's...
Set in 1972-set, black-and-white period piece takes place against the background of uneasy atmosphere just before the country’s president Ferdinand Marcos placed the troubled country under martial law.
The jury, headed by Italian director Gianfranco Rosi, also included actresses Alice Braga and Connie Nielsen.
The Special Jury Prize went to a literary rom-com, Alex Ross Perry’s Listen Up Philip, starring Jason Schwartzman as a self-absorbed young novelist.
Lav Diaz's...
- 8/16/2014
- by Richard Mowe
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Locarno’s Golden Leopard has been awarded to Filipino director Lav Diaz’s five-and-a-half-hour epic From What Is Before.Scroll down for full list of winners
The film, which has the Filipino title Mula sa kung ano ang noon, also picked up the Fipresci International Critics Prize, the Environment is Quality of Life Prize, and the International Federation of Film Societies’ (Iffs) Don Quixote Prize.
On learning that he had won Locarno’s top honour, Diaz said that he wanted to dedicate the award to his father.
“He brought me cinema, he’s a cinema addict, and he started this passion in me,” said Diaz.
“For the Filipino people, it’s for them, for their struggle, and then I would like to dedicate it to all serious filmmakers in the world, to Pedro Costa, he’s my brother and I love his work, to Matias Pineiro, and to the makers of all the other films in the...
The film, which has the Filipino title Mula sa kung ano ang noon, also picked up the Fipresci International Critics Prize, the Environment is Quality of Life Prize, and the International Federation of Film Societies’ (Iffs) Don Quixote Prize.
On learning that he had won Locarno’s top honour, Diaz said that he wanted to dedicate the award to his father.
“He brought me cinema, he’s a cinema addict, and he started this passion in me,” said Diaz.
“For the Filipino people, it’s for them, for their struggle, and then I would like to dedicate it to all serious filmmakers in the world, to Pedro Costa, he’s my brother and I love his work, to Matias Pineiro, and to the makers of all the other films in the...
- 8/16/2014
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
Locarno Film Festival concludes Saturday in Switzerland, after announcing its prizes for a wide variety of films from around the world. Filipino director Lav Diaz took home the Golden Leopard for best film for From What is Before (Mula sa kung ano ang noon), a 338-minute, breathtaking black-and-white film about his childhood in the two years leading up to martial law in the country. The jury, led by Italian director Gianfranco Rosi, chose the film, which is said to be Diaz’ most accessible and most political work thus far. The award comes with a $100,000 prize,
read more...
read more...
- 8/16/2014
- by Ariston Anderson
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Yesterday, Tiff’s Wavelengths program unveiled a Locarno-heavy line-up of feature-length films that all aim to push the cinematic medium to its breaking point. Highlights include new films by Pedro Costa’s first “proper” feature in eight years, Horse Money (scarequotes because Ne change rien really is quite a singular, musky piece of work – see pic above); Eugène Green’s typically Baroque La Sapienza; 338 minutes of gruelling Filipino mastery from Lav Diaz in the form of From What is Before; Yoo Soon-mi’s essay film on the tensions between North and South Korea, Songs From the North; and The Princess of France, Matías Piñeiro’s follow-up to his breakout revisionist Shakespeare drama. Other features include Tsai Ming-liang’s sixth and longest entry in his Walker series, Journey to the West (complete with a Denis Lavant (Holy Motors) cameo); Cannes hits like Sergei Loznitsa’s Maidan and Lisandro Alonso’s Jauja...
- 8/13/2014
- by Blake Williams
- IONCINEMA.com
The Arnold Schwarzenegger and Abigail Breslin zombie drama Maggie, Dustin Hoffman drama Boychoir, Kristen Wiig comedy Welcome To Me and Sophie Barthes’ Madame Bovary have landed world premieres, Tiff gala and special presentation slots.
Also in line to screen for the first time anywhere at the Toronto International Film Festival (Sept 4-14) are crime thriller The Forger starring John Travolta, Christopher Plummer and Tye Sheridan, thriller Escobar: Paradise Lost starring Benicio Del Toro, Thomas McCarthy’s The Cobbler starring Adam Sandler, and Paul Bettany’s directorial debut Shelter.
Tiff top brass also unveiled the Wavelengths, Future Projections, Tiff Cinematheque and shorts programmes.
Wp = World premiere / Nap = North American premiere / IP = International premiere / Cp = Canadian premiere.
Galas
Boychoir (Us), François Girard Wp
The Connection (La French) (France-Belgium), Cédric Jimenez Wp
Escobar: Paradise Lost (France), Andrea Di Stefano Wp
The Forger (Us), Philip Martin Wp
Infinitely Polar Bear (Us), Maya Forbes Cp
Laggies (Us), Lynn Shelton IP
Ruth & Alex...
Also in line to screen for the first time anywhere at the Toronto International Film Festival (Sept 4-14) are crime thriller The Forger starring John Travolta, Christopher Plummer and Tye Sheridan, thriller Escobar: Paradise Lost starring Benicio Del Toro, Thomas McCarthy’s The Cobbler starring Adam Sandler, and Paul Bettany’s directorial debut Shelter.
Tiff top brass also unveiled the Wavelengths, Future Projections, Tiff Cinematheque and shorts programmes.
Wp = World premiere / Nap = North American premiere / IP = International premiere / Cp = Canadian premiere.
Galas
Boychoir (Us), François Girard Wp
The Connection (La French) (France-Belgium), Cédric Jimenez Wp
Escobar: Paradise Lost (France), Andrea Di Stefano Wp
The Forger (Us), Philip Martin Wp
Infinitely Polar Bear (Us), Maya Forbes Cp
Laggies (Us), Lynn Shelton IP
Ruth & Alex...
- 8/12/2014
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
The Arnold Schwarzenegger and Abigail Breslin zombie drama Maggie, Kristen Wiig comedy Welcome To Me and Sophie Barthes’ Madame Bovary have landed world premieres, Tiff gala and special presentation slots.
Also in line to screen for the first time anywhere at the Toronto International Film Festival (Sept 4-14) are crime thriller The Forger starring John Travolta, Christopher Plummer and Tye Sheridan, thriller Escobar: Paradise Lost starring Benicio Del Toro, Thomas McCarthy’s The Cobbler starring Adam Sandler, and Paul Bettany’s directorial debut Shelter.
Tiff top brass also unveiled the Wavelength, Future Projections, Tiff Cinematheque and shorts programmes.
Wp = World premiere / Nap = North American premiere / IP = International premiere / Cp = Canadian premiere.
Galas
Boychoir (Us), François Girard Wp
The Connection (La French) (France-Belgium), Cédric Jimenez Wp
Escobar: Paradise Lost (France), Andrea Di Stefano Wp
The Forger (Us), Philip Martin Wp
Infinitely Polar Bear (Us), Maya Forbes Cp
Laggies (Us), Lynn Shelton IP
Ruth & Alex (Us), Richard Loncraine Wp
Special...
Also in line to screen for the first time anywhere at the Toronto International Film Festival (Sept 4-14) are crime thriller The Forger starring John Travolta, Christopher Plummer and Tye Sheridan, thriller Escobar: Paradise Lost starring Benicio Del Toro, Thomas McCarthy’s The Cobbler starring Adam Sandler, and Paul Bettany’s directorial debut Shelter.
Tiff top brass also unveiled the Wavelength, Future Projections, Tiff Cinematheque and shorts programmes.
Wp = World premiere / Nap = North American premiere / IP = International premiere / Cp = Canadian premiere.
Galas
Boychoir (Us), François Girard Wp
The Connection (La French) (France-Belgium), Cédric Jimenez Wp
Escobar: Paradise Lost (France), Andrea Di Stefano Wp
The Forger (Us), Philip Martin Wp
Infinitely Polar Bear (Us), Maya Forbes Cp
Laggies (Us), Lynn Shelton IP
Ruth & Alex (Us), Richard Loncraine Wp
Special...
- 8/12/2014
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
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