Almost a third of the competition entries at this year’s Locarno International Film Festival reflect the strength of German cinema.
Locarno is once again attracting visitors to the picturesque shores of Lake Maggiore: From Wednesday to Saturday of the following week, from August 7th to 17th, the 77th International Film Festival will take place in the famous Swiss holiday resort. Five of the 17 films from all over the world competing for the festival’s main prize, the Golden Leopard, come from Germany or were made with the strong commitment of German filmmakers.
Maren Eggert and Helena Zengel
German cinema is represented in various competitions and sections at the festival, which celebrates young talents as well as successful artists. For example, the actresses Maren Eggert and Luise Heyer appear in “The Sparrow in the Chimney” by Swiss director Ramon Zürcher.
Helena Zengel (“Systemsprenger”) can be seen in “Transamazonia” by the German director Pia Marais. Her colleague Christoph Hochhäusler, most recently successful with the thriller “Bis ans Ende der Nacht”, which was awarded at the Berlinale 2023, presents the gangster drama “Der Tod wird kommt”.
Mohammed Rassulof in the open-air cinema
The hallmark of the festival are the evening open-air performances on the picturesque Piazza Grande in the old town of Locarno. Two of the 15 films shown here were made with the strong involvement of German producers: “Electric Child” by Swiss director Simon Jaquemet, a drama about the consequences of AI on human life, and “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” by director Mohammed Rassulof, who fled to Germany from his homeland Iran because of political persecution.
Traditionally, the festival is more devoted to artistically sophisticated cinema than to commercialism. Among the world’s major film festivals, Locarno is considered the most important platform for new, unknown talent. A recipe for success. The audience response is enormous. Thousands of film fans from all over the world stay overnight in hotels, guest houses or on campsites to be there.
They know that they can hardly expect any glamorous appearances by big stars. Unlike at other festivals, the red carpet is of secondary importance. At Lake Maggiore, the motto is: “Here, the films are the stars!”
Shah Rukh Khan and Jane Campion receive awards
However, celebrities are certainly expected. French actress Irène Jacob, who became world famous with “The Two Lives of Veronika” and “Three Colors: Red” by Polish directing legend Krzysztof Kieślowski, Indian superstar Shah Rukh Khan (“My Name Is Khan”) and New Zealand director Jane Campion (“The Piano”) will receive honorary awards, for example. The festival has announced that they will each receive the awards under the night sky in front of thousands on the Piazza Grande.
In total, the most important European film festival alongside Cannes, Berlin and Venice will show 225 short, feature and documentary films over the eleven days. Maja Hoffmann will be president of the festival for the first time. The businesswoman, previously known primarily as an art patron, sees it, as she said beforehand, as “a home for transformative thinking”, i.e. a school for democratic, progressive world views.
For the cinema enthusiasts who come to the shores of Lake Maggiore, the special atmosphere of this festival is also important: there is no other cinema in the world with a comparable charm factor in the light of the stars.
Source: Stern
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
