Locarno to honour Charlotte Rampling

by Naman Ramachandran

11/07/2012 - The Locarno Film Festival (August 1-11) will present an Excellence Award to veteran British actress Charlotte Rampling. The award ceremony will take place on the Festival’s opening night at the Piazza Grande. The public will get an opportunity to participate in a conversation with Rampling on August 2. The festival will also screen Barnaby Southcombe’s I, Anna out of competition along with Liliana Cavani’s The Night Porter and François Ozon’s Under The Sand [trailer].

Olivier Père, the Festival’s Artistic director (read the interview), said, “I’m delighted to welcome to Locarno Charlotte Rampling, an enigmatic and fascinating actress whose unique magnetism and beauty have graced several landmarks in contemporary cinema. From Visconti to Lars von Trier, from Woody Allen to François Ozon, from Liliana Cavani to Nagisa Oshima, Charlotte Rampling, by turns deadly or vulnerable, has fascinated several major filmmakers, and millions of viewers besides.”

Previous recipients of the Excellence Award include Oleg Menchikov, Susan Sarandon, Michel Piccoli, Carmen Maura, Toni Servillo, Chiara Mastroianni and, in 2011, Isabelle Huppert.

Rampling’s forthcoming films include Bille August’s Night Train To Lisbon [trailer] and Alina Marazzi’s Tutto Parla Di Te.

I, Anna is a noir thriller told from the point of view of a femme fatale, who falls for the detective in charge of a murder case. Produced by Embargo Films, and co-produced by Riva Filmproduktion and Arsam International, the film is due an October 12 release in the UK through Artificial Eye.