The artistic director of the Locarno Film Festival Giona A. Nazzaro today lifted the veil on the line-up of the event’s 79th edition (running 5 - 15 August - read our news on the festival’s competition), also revealing details on the hotly anticipated parallel sections.

Dedicated to up-and-coming directors, the Filmmakers of the Present competition — a “radical, uncompromising and adventurous space, imbued with genuine curiosity about all the possibilities of cinema” — comprises 15 features this year, including numerous European productions and co-productions (11 out of 15). Among them are At Night, the debut feature by British artist Beatrice Gibson, set in a crepuscular Paris where a group of women wrestle with the night between dream, fiction and reality; Demons by Ukrainian filmmaker and playwright Natalka Vorozhbyt, exploring an unusual love story between a Russian drifter and an older Ukrainian woman; Summer Meadow, the first feature by Belgian director Naël Khleifi, following a young woman who’s chosen to live in isolation in the mountains but who’s forced to face up to her family history; Tomorrow A Long Time Ago, which is the new film by Germany’s Luise Donschen after Casanova Gene; September Afternoon by German director and artist Nicolaas Schmidt, described as “a parable on postmodern persistence”; Small Talk by Swiss director Mateo Ybarra (Summer Camp), set in the world of luxury - specifically, within the walls of the Institut Villa Pierrefeu, which is the last remaining finishing school still operating in Switzerland; and Tear Gas, a love story set amidst the violent demonstrations which shook the city of Tbilisi, which won two of the IFFR’s nine Pro Awards and which is directed by Georgian filmmaker Uta Beria (Negative Numbers).

Alongside these films are Revolutionaries Never Die by Palestinian director Mohanad Yaqubi, which explores the potential of celluloid as political testimony but also as something personal and intimate; Fire Flower by Brazilian artist and filmmaker Ana Vaz, reflecting on cinema as a tool capable of transforming human perception and fostering a connection with non-human life forms; The Days Off, the debut feature by Argentine director Lucila Mariani, who took part in the Locarno Filmmakers Academy and who was selected for the La Fabrique Cinéma workshop in the Cannes Film Festival that same year; and Ego Reach We All (Our Time Will Come), which is the first feature film by Ghanaian-American director Amartei Armar. Rounding off the selection are Todos mis viajes son viajes de regreso (Colombia) by Manuel Ponce de León, Destroy All Girls (USA) by Erin Vassilopoulos and Magic Atlas (Singapore) by Sun Xun.

The vast and imposing Piazza Grande will host 14 films this year, including seven world premieres. Of these, nine are European productions or co-productions. These titles include The Green Eyes by French writer-director duo Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh (Gagarin), which tells the story of a father who abandons his family after an eviction, a traumatic event which sends his son into a mysterious state of slumber. Other French works include Love Lessons by Martin Provost, starring Fabrice Luchini, Emmanuelle Devos, Chiara Mastroianni and Carole Bouquet, revolving around a retired literature professor who’s been left by his wife and who’s looking to reinvent himself, and Marc Fitoussi’s eighth feature, All About Corinne, which is a comedy starring Isabelle Huppert and Sandrine Kiberlain, focusing on the intense and unexpected bond between a background extra and a famous actress playing herself. Also screening are Armony by Italian director Dario Albertini and starring Valerio Mastandrea and Asia Argento, which follows a chosen family which social services try in vain to break apart; I Is Another by German director Felix Randau, which is a drama set in the 1950s about a man who claims to have saved thousands of lives during the Second World War; Down The Arm Of God by Austrian director Peter Brunner, who’s returning to Locarno, having previously presented Luzifer in the festival, with a movie co-written with US actor Caleb Landry Jones and following a young Texan pastor who refuses to play by the rules; and Frank & Louis by Swiss director Petra Volpe (previously unveiled in Sundance). The section also includes Congo Boy (winner of the Best Actor Award in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section) by Rafiki Fariala, and The Chilean by Chilean director Sergio Castro-San Martín, which is set between Chile and Italy against the revolutionary backdrop of the late 1970s.

Last but not least, the festival has also announced the Leopards of Tomorrow selection, as well as the seven titles gracing the Semaine de la Critique line-up, including the documentary which premiered in Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight, Maxence Voiseux’s Gabin.

The selected films are as follows:

Filmmakers of the Present

Ego Reach We All (Our Time Will Come) – Amartei Armar (Ghana/France)
Tear Gas – Uta Beria (Georgia/France/Germany)
At Night – Beatrice Gibson (UK/Poland)
Tomorrow A Long Time Ago – Luise Donschen (Germany)
Summer Meadow – Naël Khleifi (Belgium/France)
The Days Off – Lucila Mariani (Argentina/Brazil/Mexico/France)
Todos mis viajes son viajes de regreso – Manuel Ponce de León (Colombia)
La ilusión de un verano sin fin – Alessandra Sanguinetti (Argentina/USA)
September Afternoon – Nicolaas Schmidt (Germany)
Destoy All Girls – Erin Vassilopoulos (USA)
Fire Flower – Ana Vaz (France/Brazil)
Demons – Natalka Vorozhbyt (Ukraine/Poland)
Magic Atlas – Sun Xun (Singapore)
Revolutionaries Never Die– Mohanad Yaqubi (Palestine/Belgium/Qatar)
Small Talk – Mateo Ybarra (Switzerland)

Piazza Grande

Armony – Dario Albertini (Italy)
Down The Arm Of God – Peter Brunner (France/USA)
The Chilean – Sergio Castro-San Martín (Italy/Chile/Switzerland)
Dances With Wolves  – Kevin Costner (USA/UK) (1990)
Congo Boy – Rafiki Fariala (Central African Republic/France /Democratic Republic of the Congo/Italy)
All About Corinne – Marc Fitoussi (France/Belgium)
Paper Tiger – James Gray (USA/Italy/Brazil)
The Green Eyes – Fanny Liatard, Jérémy Trouilh (France/Belgium/Sweden)
Wild At Heart – David Lynch (USA) (1990)
Love Lessons – Martin Provost (France/Belgium)
I Is Another – Felix Randau (Germany/Austria)
Taxi Driver – Martin Scorsese (USA) (1976)
Frank & Louis – Petra Volpe (Switzerland/UK)
The Invite – Olivia Wilde (USA)

Leopards of Tomorrow - International Competition

Another Day In The Metal Box - Gleb Feldman (Ukraine)
As A Cure - Dorothea Sing Zhang (China/United Kingdom)
Aurora Borealis - Valeriya Kim (Hungary/Belgium/Portugal/Kazakhstan)
Dans les rêves quand on dort pas la nuit -  Rachel Gutgarts (France)
Drift - Jérémie Danon, Kiddy Smile (France)
Forgotten Spaceman - Elham Ehsas (Afghanistan/United Kingdom)
In The Silence After - Sebastian Delascasas (Qatar/United States/Colombia)
Khufu - Mahmoud Assi (Egypt/France/Sweden/Canada)
Las damas - Camille Zéhenne (France)
Los andares - Isa Luengo, Sofia Esteve (Spain)
Melk - Filip Anthonissen (Belgium)
Mutrion - Marco Cavazzin (Italy)
Nadupa - Daniel Samwel (Tanzania)
No tengo boca, aun así debo gritar - Diego Andrés Murillo, Eduardo Andrés Díaz (Venezuela)
Obscura - Timoteus Anggawan Kusno (Indonesia/Netherlands)
Piluk - Elisapie Isaac, Marc Séguin (Canada)
Premier feu - Blanca Camell Galí (France/Spain)
The Architect Who Built His Own Collapse - Chun Tien Chen (Taiwan)
Together - NEOZOON (Germany)  
A Sweet Day - Omid Abdollahi (Iran)

Leopards of Tomorrow - National Competition

Take Care - Patricia Strübin (Switzerland)
Gherking - Claudius Gentinetta (Switzerland)
West/East - Elia Canevascini (Switzerland)
Maids Of The Petroleum - Hans Baumann (United States)
Respirer une fois sur trois - Charlyne Genoud (Switzerland)
Singularity - Marjolaine Perreten (Switzerland)
Street Of Resistance - Jan Ciallella (Switzerland)
The First Flower - Astrit Ismaili (Kosovo/Switzerland/Netherlands)
Typhoon Mambo - Domenico Singha Pedroli (Switzerland/France/Thailand)
Zrugg - Lars Mulle (Switzerland)

Leopards of Tomorrow - Corti d’Autore Competition

Ãsheghetam - Filmsaaz (France/Switzerland/Iran)
Elegy For The Forgotten, On An Endless War - Bani Khoshnoudi (Iran/France)
Et si Thuy n’existait pas - Carlo Francisco Manatad (Philippines/France/Indonesia)
Private Property - Deepak Rauniyar (United States/Nepal/France)
Quelque part dans un pays libre - Antonin Peretjatko (France)
Already Happened - Hao Zhou (United States/China)
The Blessing - Caroline Poggi, Jonathan Vinel (France/Switzerland)
The Bovine Comedy - Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke (France)
The God That Destroys - Jyoti Mistry (Austria/Sweden)
The Wind, One Brilliant Day - Ben Rivers (China/United Kingdom)

Semaine de la Critique

Los vencedores – Pablo Aparo (Argentina)
As Light As Air – Umair Bilal (Pakistan)
Concrete Land – Asmahan Bkerat (Jordan/Palestine)
Petrolheads – Emil Langballe (Denmark)
Only the Serpent Knows – Olivier Séror, Martin Verdet (France)
Blossoming – Kamila Serwicka (Poland)
Gabin – Maxence Voiseux (France/Germany/Switzerland)