26/06/2002 - The program for the 55th edition of this festival will feature the presentation of the Leopard of honor to Sidney Pollack and a retrospective on Indian cinema from the past 25 years

The presentation of the lifetime career award to the United States director Sidney Pollack will highlight the program of the 55th edition of the Locarno International Film Festival (August 1-11, 2002). While awaiting to hear which films have been selected to compete and the playbill of European previews, the names of jury members were divulged. The jury will be presided over by Serb producer Cedomir Kolar. He will be flanked by Swiss actor Bruno Ganz, Indian actor/producer Aamir Khan, the United States journalist Emanuel Levy, the Iranian director Jafar Panahi, Afghan actress/journalist Niloufar Pazira, and the Hungarian director Béla Tarr. One of the main attractions of Locarno 2002 will be «Indian Summer»: a sweeping panorama of films that have been produced in India over the past quarter of a century. The Indian film making scene is characterized by the peaceful coexistence of independent productions and commercial Bollywood productions, which dominate box office figures. This retrospective will be organized by Uma da Cunha. In keeping with the theme of discoveries and rediscoveries, the retrospective dedicated to cineast Allan Dwann is also worth taking in. Dwan´s work spanned five decades of American cinema and covered most all genres and styles: Robin Hood and The Iron Mask with Douglas Fairbanks during the 1920´s, Heidi with Shirley Temple, and Suez with Tyrone Power during the 1930´s. Sands of Iwo Jima won John Wayne an Oscar nomination during the 1940´s, while the 1950´s were marked by b-movies like Silver Lode and The River´s Edge. These are just some of the high points of a career that totaled more than 400 films. One of the absolute innovations of this edition will be the literary seminars to be held as part of the new section called «In Progress»: six great writers from very different origins and inspirations, including the Italian author Antonio Tabucchi and Israeli writer Abraham Yeoshua, will speak of the their rapport with the cinema and the reciprocal influence that runs between screenplay and literary writing. The grand finale will be a special Pardo in iron netting designed by the sculptress Gloria Argéles to honor the Italian critic Tullio Kezich, who has been a supporter and perennial participant of the Festival for fifty years. Kezich has also participated as a producer.
For further information please visit the Festival´s official web site