| Locarno International Film Festival | |
|---|---|
| Location | Locarno, Switzerland |
| Founded | 1946 |
| Awards | Golden Leopard |
| Language | International |
| Official website | |
The Film Festival Locarno (Italian: Festival del film Locarno) is an international film festival held annually in the city of Locarno, Switzerland since 1946. After Cannes and Venice and together with Karlovy Vary, Locarno is the Film Festival with the longest history. The main feature of the festival is the open-air screening space in the astonishing Piazza Grande, with room for over 8,000 spectators, and with one of the largest open air screens in the world (26x14 metres).
The top prize of the Festival is the Golden Leopard awarded to the best film in the international competition. Other awards include the Leopard of Honour for outstanding career achievements, and the Prix du Public UBS, the public choice award.
The Locarno Film Festival is well known worldwide to be a festival of discovery. Throughout its history the festival has discovered new trends and launched the career of numerous directors and actors. Although the festival aims at the films, rather than at stars and glamour, several well-known personalities of the international film industry have been to the Locarno International Film Festival in recent years. To name just a few: Willem Dafoe, Terry Gilliam, Anthony Hopkins, Aki Kaurismäki, Abbas Kiarostami, Mike Leigh, Ken Loach, Gregg Araki, John Malkovich, Carmen Maura, Rose McGowan, Frank Oz, Michel Piccoli, Robert Rodriguez, Susan Sarandon, Christian Slater, Alexander Sokurov, Wim Wenders and Gus Van Sant.
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President: Marco Solari [1]
Chief Operating Officer: Marco Cacciamognaga [2]
Artistic Director: Olivier Père [3]
Pardo per la Migliore Opera prima (Leopard for the Best First Feature), Prize on the City and Region of Locarno, that is shared equally between the director and the producer, for the best first film screened in the Concorso internazionale, the Concorso CIneasti del presente and the Piazza Grande section
For some 20 years now, the Pardo d‘onore Swisscom (Leopard of Honour) has provided an opportunity to commend illustrious film directors, who embody the very idea of cinema that the Festival has supported so passionately since its inception: the bes of auteuer film, creative and audacious, with a strong vision and a personal style, endlessly reinventing itself. Locarno is proud to number amongst recipients of the Pardo d‘onore such master filmmakers as Jacques Rivette, Manoel de Oliveira, Samuel Fuller, Bernardo Bertolucci, Jean-Luc Godard, Daniel Schmid, Ken Loach, Ermanno Olmi, Terry Gilliam, Abbas Kiarostami, Wim Wenders, Aleksandr Sokurov, Hou Hsiao-Hsien, Amos Gitai, William Friedkin and, in 2010, Alain Tanner, but also to Jia Zhangke.
Every year this prestigious award celebrates one or more internationally acclaimed actors or actresses, who, through their work and talent, have enriched the cinema with their unique contribution. Since 2004, the Locarno Festival has been honoured to thus pay tribute to Oleg Menchikov, Susan Sarandon, John Malkovich, Willem Dafoe, Carmen Maura, Michel Piccoli, Toni Servillo and Chiara Mastroianni. Sponsored by Moët et Chandon.
Wishing to highlight a key figure in film, and to salute their courage, their ability to take a risk and support auteurs, with this Award the Locarno Festival has already paid tribute to the work of such renowned producers as Paulo Branco, Ruth Waldburger, Karl Baumgartner, Jeremy Thomas, the French collective Agat Films & Cie, Lita Stantic, Christine Vachon, Martine Marignac, Menahem Golan and, in 2011, Mike Medavoy. The Best Independent Producer Award was established in 2002 in memory of Raimondo Rezzonico, president of the event for almost twenty years. The Prize is offered by th City of Minusio.
The official jury is not the only one to hand out prizes at the Festival. Every night, the audience in Piazza Grande is on jury service, voting to decide the winner of the ”Prix du public UBS”.
The Variety Piazza Grande Award is awarded by a jury of several of the American paper's critics who will attend Locarno. It will go to a film screeened in the Piazza Grande programme as a world or international première. The prize will recognise a film that stands out for both its artistic qualities and its potential fro theatrical release. This award is intended to assist the international career of a film in selection thank to Variety's connections with the film industry and its authority within the sector.
The official poster of the Festival:
Some images of the Festival del film Locarno.
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