Never before have so many Swiss films been screened at Locarno
Published: Thursday, Aug 1st 2024, 13:20
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With almost 50 films, more Swiss creations than ever before have been selected for the Locarno Film Festival. Three world premieres will be shown in the international competition, including the new film by brothers Ramon and Silvan Zürcher and two in the "Contemporary Filmmakers" category. Five Swiss productions will be screened on the Piazza Grande. The festival opens on Wednesday for ten days.
"Reinas" by Klaudia Reynicke will open the festival on the Piazza Grande in Locarno TI on Thursday, August 8. The Swiss-Peruvian-Spanish production was already selected by the Sundance Festival before it was shown at the Berlinale, as reported on the Swiss Films website.
Irène Jacob award-winning
On August 9, "Electric Child" by Simon Jaquemet will be shown as a world premiere. The film is about a father who relies on an experiment with artificial intelligence to save his terminally ill baby. On the same evening, the French-Swiss actress Irène Jacob will be awarded the Leopard Club Prize on the Piazza Grande.
On August 10, the American-Swiss thriller "Sew Torn" by Freddy Macdonald will be shown in the late evening. The film was shot in the Swiss mountains and unveiled at the Sxsw festival in Austin.
On August 13, Swiss animated filmmaker Claude Barras will receive the Locarno Children's Prize, followed by the Swiss premiere of his new animated film "Sauvages". This was shown as a preview in Cannes and screened in competition at the Annecy Animation Film Festival.
On August 17, the closing film on the Piazza Grande will be the French-Swiss comedy "Le procès du chien" by Laetitia Dosch, which was also unveiled in Cannes.
World premieres in the competition
In the international competition, the audience will be shown "The Sparrow in the Chimney" by Ramon Zürcher with German actress Maren Eggert. It is the third part of a trilogy about life in a detached house in Rapperswil BE, which the director created together with his twin brother Silvan Zürcher after "Das merkwürdige Kätzchen" and "Das Mädchen und die Spinne". This second film was awarded a prize at the 2021 Berlinale.
Other Swiss co-productions are also competing for the main prize. It is the Portuguese-Swiss-French debut film "Fogo do vento" by Portuguese director Marta Mateus, which was co-produced by Fabrice Aragno. The latter worked closely with Jean-Luc Godard for over 20 years.
In "Transamazonia" by German filmmaker Pia Marais, viewers follow Swiss actress Sabine Timoteo, who recently starred in Carmen Jaquier's "Foudre", and young German actress Helena Zengel, who became famous for her role in "Systemsprenger".
Growing up
The "Contemporary Filmmakers" category, which offers a platform for first and second works, presents two coming-of-age stories: "Hanami" is the first feature film by Denise Fernandes, the Ticino director with Cape Verdean roots who studied film at the Cisa in Lugano and in Cuba.
The second contribution with Swiss participation is the first German-Swiss film "Der Fleck" by German director Willy Hans.
Outside of the competitions, filmmaker Samir will present "The wonderful transformation of the working class into foreigners" as a world premiere. It is an essayistic documentary film about Swiss working-class culture.
The return of Marina Rollmann
For the first time, a Swiss series will also premiere in Locarno. "Espèce menacée", based on an idea and screenplay by Bruno Deville, Léo Maillard and the French-Swiss cabaret artist Marina Rollmann, who will also be present as an actress.
Two Swiss world premieres will be shown in the independent documentary film category "Semaine de la Critique". One is "Sister's tale", created by Mira Film Basel in co-production with France and Iran. Director Leila Amini accompanies her sister, a housewife in Iran who dares to pursue her lifelong dream: singing, despite the restrictions imposed on women.
In "We Inherit", director Simon Baumann talks about his parents' hopes of leaving him their life's work and the expectations that come with it.
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