Locarno Film Festival
Locarno Film Festival Top Prize Goes to Lithuanian Drama ‘Toxic,’ the Feature Debut of Saule Bliuvaite
AkiplÄ—Å¡a (Toxic), the feature debut from Lithuanian writer and director SaulÄ— BliuvaitÄ— that explores the human body and mysterious model agencies, is the winner of the Locarno Film Festival’s 2024 international competition, which was honored with the Pardo d’Oro, or Golden Leopard, in the Swiss town on Saturday. Locarno77 organizers called the movie “an incisive […]
- By
Paz Vega on Directorial Debut ‘Rita’ as a “Love Letter to My Childhood” With Its Young Stars as Its “Soul”
You may have enjoyed Spanish actress Paz Vega‘s performances on the big screen in Spanglish, Sex and Lucia, Acts of Vengeance, or Rambo: Last Blood, among others. Or you may have seen her in such TV series as The OA or Netflix heist drama Kaleidoscope. Now, she has written and stepped behind the camera for her […]
- By
Jane Campion on ‘Barbie’ Impact: “Women Will Be Trusted With Money, Finally”
Jane Campion will receive the Pardo d’Onore Manor Award for lifetime achievement at the 77th edition of the Locarno Film Festival on Friday evening. But the New Zealand director also took time to talk to members of the press about a broad range of topics, including the success of Greta Gerwig‘s Barbie, the history of […]
- By
Lebanon Civil War Doc ‘Green Line’ Uses Figurines to Confront a Woman’s Violent Childhood Trauma
“Fida grew up during the war in Beirut in the 1980s, immersed in the ‘red hell’ her grandmother used to tell her about. The trivialization of death made her doubt the value of life and the meaning of this never-ending war that was so similar to so many others.” So reads the description of director […]
- By
‘Toxic’ Director Explores the Human Body and Mysterious Model Agencies in Her Feature Debut
AkiplÄ—Å¡a (Toxic) is the feature film debut from Lithuanian director SaulÄ— BliuvaitÄ—, and it had its world premiere in the Locarno Film Festival’s international competition on Thursday. The young creative also wrote the coming-of-age drama that is inspired by her own experiences. It centers on Maria, 13, who is left by her mother and forced […]
- By
‘New Dawn Fades’ Explores Insanity as “a Social Construct,” With Istanbul as a Main Character
Turkish writer-director Gürcan Keltek (Meteors, Gulyabani) has so far focused on shorter films and documentaries. On Thursday, he brought the world premiere of his fiction feature debut New Dawn Fades (Yeni È™afak solarken), a contemplation on sanity, to the competition program of the 77th edition of the Locarno Film Festival. The film’s cinematographer is Peter Zeitlinger (Encounters […]
- By
‘Drowning Dry’ Review: A Penetrating Lithuanian Drama Depicts a Family Tragedy Through Multiple Fragments
Writer, director and cinematographer Laurynas Bareisa’s second feature follows two sisters who experience a life-altering event during their summer holiday in the country.
- By
Denis Cote Talks Low-Budget Filmmaking and Life Post-Kidney Transplant: “It’s an Absolute Miracle”
Throughout his career Canadian auteur Denis Côté has deliberately shunned big-budget features or mainstream Hollywood, in part because progressive kidney disease stopped him in his tracks. But now his health problems are increasingly in the rearview mirror after a kidney transplant in August 2023, thanks to a donor friend. “It’s an absolute miracle and I’m […]
- By
Mothers on the Edge of a Precipice: Locarno Films Explore Troubled and Troubling Women, Taboos
The Locarno Film Festival‘s 77th edition has been screening an eclectic lineup of movies, covering a broad range of topics and themes. However, there are some recurring topics that are touched on in several films in the lineup of the Swiss festival, such as the theme of AI and digital technology. “Another obvious theme is the […]
- By
Ben Burtt on Revolutionizing Sci-Fi Sound With ‘Star Wars’ and Creating Darth Vader’s Breathing
Ben Burtt created the sound of my childhood. He gets that a lot. “Yeah, I hear that often,” says the legendary sound designer, creator of the lightsabre swish and Darth Vader’s electronic wheezing, the voice of R2-D2, Chewbacca and, for a younger generation, that of Pixar’s WALL-E. “I guess I altered the DNA of a […]
- By
Locarno Open Doors Program Unveils Winners, Sets New Africa Focus
Open Doors, the co-production and talent development program for artists from underrepresented communities around the world that is part of the Locarno Film Festival’s Locarno Pro industry strand, unveiled its 2024 winners on Tuesday. Eight projects in development were selected for its co-production platform, the Projects Hub, and were eligible for the three main cash […]
- By
Marco Tullio Giordana on ‘The Life Apart’ and Why So Many Italian Films Explore Family Issues
In 1980, Italian writer and director Marco Tullio Giordana won the Golden Leopard award at the Locarno Film Festival for his feature film debut Maledetti vi amerò. This year, he is back for the 77th edition of the Swiss festival with La vita accanto (The Life Apart). And he is back to collect another honor. […]
- By