Film

What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases

Search cinema listings

Browse cinemas A-Z

Search 20,000 reviews

 

  • Print this page
  • Send to a friend

Locarno Film Festival preview

Geoff Andrew looks ahead to the popular Swiss film festival.

Aug  1 2005

The Locarno Film Festival – the 58th edition of which begins on Wednesday – has for many years been regarded as one of the more rewarding European events of its kind.

Smaller, less glitzy and certainly less concerned with industrial offshoots than A-list events like Cannes, Berlin and Venice, it's built up a reputation as an audience-friendly festival that manages to combine a degree of populism – every evening, weather permitting, movies are shown on a truly massive screen in the Piazza Grande to around 7,000 spectators – with an admirably adventurous, open-minded approach to programming that happily embraces all kinds of filmmaking from all over the world.

There are competitions devoted to new directors and video; strands devoted to shorts; a human-rights sidebar; a round-up (inevitably) of recent Swiss cinema; and, as always, a large retrospective: this year devoted to Orson Welles.

Moreover, in this the fifth and final year of Irene Bignardi's very successful directorship of the festival, 'Leopards of Honour' will be awarded to Abbas Kiarostami, Terry Gilliam and Wim Wenders, while John Malkovich, Susan Sarandon, cinematographer Vittorio Storaro and UK producer Jeremy Thomas will all be paid tribute with various other awards.

This year's gig kicks off in the Piazza Grande with a screening of Ketan Mehta's Bollywood movie 'The Rising', starring Aamir Khan and Toby Stephens, and ends with Robert Altman's '70s masterpiece 'Nashville'.

In-between, hundreds of films will be shown, including a number of new UK titles.

In the main competition there is the world premiere of 'The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes', the long-awaited second feature by the Brothers Quay, and the international premiere of Dave McKean's first feature 'Mirrormask', starring, among others, Gina McKee, Stephen Fry and Dora Bryan.

Elsewhere, Mike Figgis's 'Coma' plays in the video competition, as does 'Shooting Magpies' by the Amber Production Team; Mary McGuckian's 'Rag Tale' screens in the Filmmakers of the Present strand; and on a more mainstream level, Gaby Dellal's 'On a Clear Day', starring Peter Mullan and Brenda Blethyn, screens in the Piazza Grande.

Watch this space for festival reports early next week.

  • Print this page
  • Send to a friend

User comments on this story

  • Matthew Widgery said...
    Hi,
    I run the W.E.D. GreenFilm Festival (www.greenfilm.moonfruit.com) and I would be interested in listing the festival on your site. I would also be interested in reciprical links. Please let me know if either/both are possible?
    Best.
    Matt. Posted on Feb 27 2006 14:24
    Report as inappropriate

What do you think?
Post your comment now

*mandatory fields





Top Stories

Hippies who work for The Man

Hippies who work for The Man

To celebrate George Clooney comedy 'The Men who Stare at Goats', we look back at six memorable onscreen hippies who fought the system from within

Roland Emmerich's guide to disaster movies

Roland Emmerich's guide to disaster movies

Ahead of the release of '2012', Roland Emmerich offers his ten tips on creating the perfect global catastrophe

Grant Heslov: interview

Grant Heslov: interview

Grant Heslov, director of 'The Men who Stare at Goats' talks about his old pal George Clooney, his interest in the paranormal, and his fond memories of working on 'Happy Days'

The Coen brothers discuss 'A Serious Man'

The Coen brothers discuss 'A Serious Man'

Masters of contrary comedy, Joel and Ethan Coen have struck gold again with their latest, ‘A Serious Man’

Ten inspirations behind 'Avatar'?

Ten inspirations behind 'Avatar'?

Time Out ponders the influences behind James Cameron's anticipated space-opera on the basis of the trailer

Michael Jackson's This Is It: review

Michael Jackson's This Is It: review

Kenny Ortega's posthumous concert film is a rousing eulogy for one of pop's great enigmas

Michael Haneke: The man behind the menace

Michael Haneke: The man behind the menace

From Cannes to Munich to London, Dave Calhoun tours Michael Haneke's Palme d'Or winner, 'The White Ribbon'

Lone Scherfig talks 'An Education'

Lone Scherfig talks 'An Education'

Danish director Lone Scherfig was an unlikely choice for a very English affair like 'An Education'. Cath Clarke meets her

How Jane Campion brought John Keats back to life

How Jane Campion brought John Keats back to life

Time Out gets Romantic with the ‘difficult’ New Zealander about her new film, 'Bright Star'

Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam

Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam

In celebration of the release of Pixar's 'Up' and Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', read our rundown of fifty classic feature length animations