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FESTIVALS Switzerland

Locarno celebrates 60 years

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The Locarno International Film Festival (August 1-11) – which has been under the artistic direction of Frédéric Maire since 2006 – will this year celebrate its 60th anniversary. The history of Switzerland’s most important film event will be looked back at with a major retrospective on filmmakers whose careers have been marked by their appearance at Locarno. The festival will also pay tribute to the finest women in Italian cinema.

Films by young European directors dominate the international competition. Titles vying for the Golden Lion are: The Rest is Silence [+see also:
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(Nae Caranfil, Romania); Freigesprochen (Peter Payer, Austria/Luxembourg); Früher oder Später (Ulrike von Ribbeck, Germany); Ayiti Nan Kèm [+see also:
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(Claudio Del Punta, Italy); Fuori dalle corde by Switzerland’s Fulvio Bernasconi (an Italian co-production); Captain Achab [+see also:
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(Philippe Ramos, France/Sweden); Extraordinary Rendition (James Threapleton, UK); from Spain, Thieves (Jaime Marques) and Lo mejor de mi [+see also:
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(Roser Aguilar); and O capacete dourado (Jorge Cramez, Portugal).

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European productions are also well represented in the Filmmakers of the Present competition, whose selection features Comme à Ostende (Delphine Lehericey, Belgium); Lo bueno de llorar (Matías Bize, Spain); Tejút (Benedek Fliegauf, Hungary); Vittorio Rifranti’s Tagliare le parti in grigio; and Corso Salani’s Imatra (Italy).

The line-up also includes three French films – Pierre Léon’s Guillaume et les sortileges, Never Sleeps by Philippe Fléchaire, Benoit Falize and Jérémy Boury, Sébastien Betbeder’s Nuage – as well as a Romanian co-production, Nu te supara, dar by Adina Pintilie.

Locarno’s famous open-air square, the Piazza Grande, will present a very diversified programme with Fumihiko Sori’s Japanese animated title and opening film Vexille; a number of Hollywood productions (The Bourne Ultimatum, 1408 and Hairspray); indie film Waitress by US director Adrienne Shelly; British comedy Death at a Funeral by Frank Oz; Flight of the Red Balloon [+see also:
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by Hou Hsiao-hsien (winner of the Ecumenical Jury Prize at Locarno 1985); Swiss/Italian co-production Vogliamo anche le rose by Alina Marazzi; Jacob Berger’s Swiss feature Une journée; and closing film Lech Kowalski’s Winners and Losers.

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION
The Rebirth - Masahiro Kobayashi, Japan
Boys of Tomorrow - Noh Dong-seok, S. Korea
Captain Achab - Philippe Ramos, France/Sweden
Contre toute esperance - Bernard Emond, Canada
Extraordinary Rendition - Jim Threapleton, UK
Freigesprochen - Peter Payer, Austria-Luxembourg
Sooner or Later - Ulrike von Ribbeck, Germany
Fuori dalle corde - Fulvio Bernasconi, Switzerland-Italy
Haiti cherie - Claudio Del Punta, Italy
Joshua - George Ratliff, US
Ladrones - Jaime Marques, Spain
Las Vidas posibles - Sandra Gugliotta, Argentina-Germany
Lo mejor de mi - Roser Aguilar, Spain
La Maison jaune - Hakkar Amor, France-Algeria
Memories - Eugene Green; Pedro Costa; Harun Farocki, S. Korea
O capacete dourado - Jorge Cramez, Portugal
The Rest is Silence - Nae Caranfil, Romania
Slipstream - Anthony Hopkins, US
Sous les toits de Paris - Hiner Saleem, France

PIAZZA GRANDE
The Bourne Ultimatum - Paul Greengrass, US
Death at a Funeral - Frank Oz, US/Netherlands/Germany/UK
The Drummer - Kenneth Bi, Hong Kong/Taiwan/Germany
Hairspray - Adam Shankman, US
1 journee - Jacob Berger, Switzerland/France
My Brother Is an Only Child - Daniele Luchetti, Italy-France
Vexille - Fumihiko Sori, Japan
Flight of the Red Balloon - Hou Hsiao-hsien, France
Waitress - Adrienne Shelly, US
Winners and Losers - Lech Kowalski, France/US
Chicago 10 - Brett Morgen, US
Knocked Up - Judd Apatow, US
Nothing but Ghosts - Martin Gypkens, Germany
Planet Terror - Robert Rodriguez, US
Vogliamo Anche le Rose - Alina Marazzi, Italy
1408 - Mikael Hafstrom, US

FILMMAKERS OF THE PRESENT COMPETITION
Those Three - Naghi Nemati, Iran
Comme a Ostende - Delphine Lehericey, Belgium
Estrellas - Federico Leon, Marcos Martinez, Argentina
Guillaume et les sortileges - Pierre Leon, France
Imatra - Corso Salani, Italy
Japan Japan - Lior Shamriz, Israel
Juizo - Maria Augusta Ramos, Brazil
Lo Bueno de Llorar - Matias Bize, Spain
Loren Cass - Chris Fuller, US
Never Sleeps - Philippe Flechaire; Benoit Falize; Jeremy Boury, France
Shadows Formless - Ashish Avikuntha, India
Nos vies privees - Denis Cote, Canada
Nuage - Sebastien Betbeder, France
Nu te supara, dar - Adina Pintilie, Romania
Phantom Love - Nina Menkes, US
Tagliare le parti in grigio - Vittorio Rifranti, Italy
Milky Way - Benedek Fliegauf, Hungary
Tussenstand - Mijke de Jong, Netherlands
Mid-Afternoon Barks - Zhang Yuedong, China

ICI ET AILLEURS
Beautiful Losers - Aaron Rose, Joshua Leonard, US
La Capture - Carole Laure, Canada/France
Crime and Punishment - Zhao Liang, China/France
La Danse de l'enchanteresse - Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Brigitte Chataignier, France
Dutti der Riese - Martin Witz, Switzerland
Handerson e as horas - Kiko Goifman, Brazil
Io non sono un moderato - Andrea Nobile, Italy
Kadin - Adolfo B. Alix Jr., Philippines
Little Moth - Tao Peng, China
Il pianto della statua - Elisabetta Sgarbi, Italy
I promessi sposi - Massimo d'Anolfi, Martina Parenti, Italy
Morceaux de conversations avec Jean-Luc Godard - Alain Fleischer, France
Preussisch Gangstar - Irma-Kinga Stelmach; Bartosz Werner, Germany
Shake the Devil Off - Peter Entell, Switzerland
UPA! Una pelicula Argentina - Tamae Garateguy, Santiago Giralt, Camila Toker, Argentina
Wierszalin - Francesco Carrozzini, US/Poland

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(Translated from French)

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