© Festival del film Locarno The Festival del film Locarno and the City of Milan, as part of a strong desire for a collaboration, announce their intention to establish the Pardo alla Migliore Opera Prima “Città di Milano” (Award for the Best First Film). The Festival del film Locarno’s President and Board of Directors, along with the City of Milan’s Assessore alla Cultura, Moda, Design, Stefano Boeri, are delighted to announce their desire to establis...

© Festival del film Locarno The eleventh edition of Open Doors will focus on the South Caucasus. The Festival del film Locarno’s section that s and puts the spotlight on filmmakers and films from countries in the South and East where independent cinema is vulnerable will also introduce a new component. With from the Swiss Foreign Ministry’s Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), every year Open Doors focuses on a different region; following Africa i...

Artistic Director Carlo Chatrian discusses his ideas for Locarno and presents some of the news and innovations he plans for the 66th edition of the Festival. ...

My Fair Lady (1964) by George Cukor The Retrospective for the 66th edition of the Festival del film Locarno will be dedicated to the Hollywood director George Cukor. The new selection committee to work with the Artistic Director Carlo Chatrian on the programme for 2013 has also been finalised. The 2013 Retrospective, organised in collaboration with the Cinémathèque suisse and the National Film Museum (Museo Nazionale del Cinema) in Turin, will be dedicated this year to the...

                                The Board of Governors decided, at a special meeting held on Tuesday 4 September 2012, to designate Carlo Chatrian as the new Artistic Director of the Festival del film Locarno. Carlo Chatrian will take up his post from 1 November 2012, following Olivier Père, who is leaving the Festival to head up Arte Fran...

  © Festival del film Locarno  Last night, Saturday 11 August, the 65th edition of the Festival del film Locarno concluded with the awards ceremony on the Piazza Grande before an audience of 5,700 people. The President Marco Solari, expressing his gratitude to the whole Festival team, has reminded right away, that “the end of a Festival is the beginning of the next one. Among the priorities there is an increase of the worldwide marketing of the Festival and the suppor...

Thanks to IMCINE, the Mexican Film Institute, and with the from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA), the Festival del film Locarno's Carte Blanche – initiative that offers a showcase for a number of films in post-production from a given country, dedicated this year to Mexico ¬– has shown seven films, each introduced by its producer, to the various international sales agents and festival programmers who pa...

Krzysztof Zanussi is a special guest in Locarno (his film "Iluminacja"- 1973 will play for the 40th celebration of the SIGNIS jury)   ...

The 65th edition of the Festival del film Locarno will open on Wednesday 1 August. At the traditional Welcome Cocktail - attended by Federal Councilor Alain Berset and by Mayor of the City of Locarno and Vice-President of the Festival Carla Speziali, as well as by representatives from cultural institutions and Swiss and Ticino politicians - President Marco Solari and Artistic Director Olivier Père will open this edition, in the presence of the numerous directors, actors and film pro...

  The day of the beginning of the Locarno Festival is nearly here and from today it is possible to display the day by day calendar of the screenings and the meetings which will be organized in this 65th edition. Check this online on Locarno's website: http://www.pardolive.ch/it/catalogue/programme . As every year, on the other hand, the small paper program will be handed out for free in all the main Locarnese meeting points during the days prec...

Arnon Milchan                                 At the 65th edition of the Festival del film Locarno, the Premio Raimondo Rezzonico (Best Producer Award) will be presented to Arnon Milchan, one of the most prolific and successful American independent film producer of the past 25 years, with over 100 feature films to his cre...

  This year, the Concorso Cineasti del presente, a competition that reveals new talent -presenting first and second films from emerging young directors from all over the world - is being upgraded to heighten its profile and increase its importance within the Festival. This  competition (the Festival's second competitive section for feature films, alongside the Concorso internazionale) will see a marked increase in the main cash award as well as a new prize. The "Pardo d'oro C...

Looking great! ...

Westerns from all over the world, a focus on Bangladesh and several programme sections with prominent Swiss figures: new Artistic Director Thierry Jobin and Secretary General Esther Widmer announced the concept of the 26th edition of the International Film Festival Fribourg at a presentation given at the Solothurner Filmtage. For the first time, the FIFF introduces annually recurring parallel sections, which highlight thematic core areas. Amongst other things they include sections devoted to t...

The awards for the 2011 Open Doors co-production lab, that is organised with the of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the of the City of Bellinzona, were announced on Tuesday August 9. Open Doors Awards cerermony, from left: Alka Raghuram, Shanker Raman, Signe Byrge Sorensen, Sourav Sarangi, Anup Singh, Johannes Rexin The 2011 session was devoted to cinema from India. 12 projects...

As part of the 64th edition of the Festival del film Locarno, a Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Harrison Ford. Saturday August 6, Locarno hosted the European premiere of "Cowboys & Aliens" introduced by director Jon Favreau and Harrison Ford, Daniel Craig and Olivia Wilde. The Festival del film Locarno presented a Lifetime Achievement Award to Harrison Ford in person on this occasion. ...

As part of the 64th edition of the Festival del film Locarno, a Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Harrison Ford. Saturday August 6, Locarno hosted the European premiere of "Cowboys & Aliens" introduced by director Jon Favreau and Harrison Ford, Daniel Craig and Olivia Wilde. The Festival del film Locarno presented a Lifetime Achievement Award to Harrison Ford in person on this occasion. ...

The 11th German Films Previews in Hamburg was once again a business success for German film exporters. 17 screenings at the 2011 Event (July 10 – 13) were presented in Hamburg’s Dammtor Cinema. The 11 attending German film sales companies again reported strong business with finalized deals and ongoing negotiations resulting from the Previews.  The annual showcase of current and films organized by German Films in association with the German Film Exporters Association (VDFE) ...

The 64th Festival del film Locarno opens on Wednesday August 3 with a screening of J.J. Abrams’ Super 8 on the Piazza Grande.  Following the success of the last night’s free screening of Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961, by Blake Edwards), sponsored by Valora and its president Rolando Benedick, the former president of Manor, which attracted an audience of 4,800 to the Piazza Grande, tomorrow there will be the Pre-Festival’s second free offering to local residents and touris...

Heading the Concorso internazionale Jury will be Portuguese producer Paulo Branco (Francisca by Manoel de Oliveira, 1981; In the White City by Alain Tanner, 1983; Come and Go by João César Monteiro, 2003; Mysteries of Lisbon by Raoul Ruiz, 2010), who was the winner of the very first Raimondo Rezzonico Prize in 2002. Also serving on the jury to assess the twenty or so full-length features in competition will be French actor and director Louis Garrel (The Dreamers by Bernardo Bertolucci, 2003;...

Hitoshi Matsumoto on the set of Scabbard Samurai Hitoshi Matsumoto on the set of Scabbard Samurai The film, starring newcomer Takaaki Nomi and Jun Kunimura (Kill Bill: Vol. 1), is produced by Yoshimoto Kogyo, Kyoraku Sangyo and Phantom Film, and goes on theatrical release in Japan next June 11. Highlighting the occasion of the premiere, Festival del film Locarno will pay tribute to Hitoshi Matsumoto with screenings of the director’s two other features to date, Big Man Jap...

Pardo d’onore Swisscom goes to Abel Ferrara At the forthcoming edition of the Festival del film Locarno, American director Abel Ferrara will receive the Pardo d’onore Swisscom, the prize for career achievement awarded every year to a contemporary director for an outstanding body of work. © Frenetic Films The award ceremony will take place on Friday August 5, at 9.30 pm on the Piazza Grande, when Abel Ferrara will introduce, for the occasion, an exclusive preview of extracts ...

  From over 200 projects submitted, in 18 different languages, from 30 regions in India, these are the 12 finalists which will participate in Open Doors, the Festival del film Locarno's co-production lab. The selected projects are: - Aharbal Falls by Ajay Raina - Ajeeb Aashiq / Strange Love by Natasha Mendonca - Arunoday / Sunriseby Partho Sen-Gupta - Burqa Boxers by Alka Raghuram - Char, The Island Within by Sourav Sarangi - Jat Panchayat / The Judgement by Satish ...

Locarno Director Olivier Père announces Open Doors for India in 2011Olivier Père, the French film critic who is a member of IFFI jury, is also the Artistic Director of the Locarno Film Festival. In his second capacity, he brings welcome news to Indian film buffs and budding scriptwriters. Locarno co-production lab ‘Open Doors’ will focus on India in the 64th edition of the festival, to be held during August 3-13, 2011. The Open Doors segment is ed by the Swiss foreign ministry’s ...