- German cinema shines at Locarno Film Festival
Locarno attracts once again to the picturesque shores of Lake Maggiore: From Wednesday to the following Saturday, from August 7 to 17, the 77th International Film Festival will take place in the famous Swiss holiday resort. Five out of 17 films from around the world in competition for the festival's main prize, the Golden Leopard, come from Germany or were realized with strong German involvement.
Maren Eggert and Helena Zengel
German cinema is represented at the festival, which celebrates especially young talents but also successful artists, in various competitions and sections. For example, actresses Maren Eggert and Luise Heyer appear in "The Sparrow in the Chimney" by Swiss director Ramon Zürcher.
Helena Zengel ("System Crasher") can be seen in "Transamazonia" by German director Pia Marais. Her colleague Christoph Hochhäuser, who recently had success with the thriller "Until the End of the Night" awarded at the Berlinale 2023, presents the gangster drama "Death Will Come".
Mohammed Rassulof in the open-air cinema
The festival's trademark is the evening open-air screenings on the picturesque Piazza Grande in Locarno's old town. Two of the 15 films to be seen here were made with strong German involvement: "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 Mohammed Rassulof, an Iranian director who fled to Germany due to political persecution.
Traditionally, the festival focuses more on artistically demanding cinema than on commercial films. Among the world's major film festivals, Locarno is considered the most important platform for new, unknown talents. A recipe for success. The audience response is enormous. Thousands of film fans from around the world stay in hotels, pensions, or campgrounds to be part of it.
They know that there are hardly any glamorous appearances by big stars to be expected. Unlike other festivals, the red carpet is secondary here. At Lake Maggiore, "the films are the stars!"
However, some prominence can be expected. French actress Irène Jacob, known worldwide for "The Double Life of Veronique" and "Three Colors: Red" by Polish master Krzysztof Kieślowski, Indian superstar Shah Rukh Khan ("My Name Is Khan"), and New Zealand director Jane Campion ("The Piano") will receive honorary awards. The festival has announced that they will each receive their awards under the night sky in front of thousands on the Piazza Grande.
In total, the most important European film festival after Cannes, Berlin, and Venice will show 225 short, feature, and documentary films in eleven days. For the first time, Maja Hoffmann will preside over the festival. The businesswoman, known so far mainly as a patron of the arts, sees it as "a home for transformative thinking," i.e., a school for democratic, progressive worldviews.
But for the cinema enthusiasts coming to the shores of Lake Maggiore, the special atmosphere of this festival also counts: There is no other place in the world with comparable charm where you can experience cinema under the starlit sky.
I'm not going to lie, I was initially skeptical about attending the Locarno Film Festival, but the unique atmosphere and the focus on artistic cinema changed my mind.
Despite the lack of traditional glamour, I'm not going to lie, I'm quite excited to witness the honorary awards being given to renowned artists like Irène Jacob and Shah Rukh Khan under the night sky.
