21/05/2010

Although Olivier Père, the new artistic director of the 63rd Locarno International Film Festival (August 4-14), has not yet revealed any of the films in selection, the jury members have been announced.

The International Competition jury will be presided by Singaporean director Eric Khoo and will comprise Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani, French actor Melvil Poupaud, Swiss director Lionel Baier and US filmmaker Joshua Safdie.

German director Maren Ade and Belgian helmer Joachim Lafosse will be among the members of the jury for the Filmmakers of the Present competition (debut and second films). Eduardo Antin, former director of the Buenos Aires Film Festival, will be jury president.

The festival is also opening itself up to film professionals with the launch of Industry Days (August 7-9): “We want to give Locarno an additional asset as a platform for professional encounters and a meeting place for the independent film industry”, said Père. Numerous workshops and round tables will be organised in order to encourage exchanges between distributors and producers.

Professionals will also be able to take part in the co-production laboratory Open Doors (August 7-10), which will present projects from Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan).

A Leopard of Honour will be awarded to director Alain Tanner, who is emblematic of the New Swiss Cinema (The Salamander, Jonah Who Will Be 25 in the Year 2000). The line-up also includes a complete retrospective of Ernst Lubitsch’s works.