Locarno Pro, the Locarno Film Festival’s dedicated section for professionals, returns in August and will offer its attendees a raft of varied industry events. This year’s festival will run from 3-13 August.

First, the StepIn International Think Tank will shine a spotlight on “an industry that is on the upswing and full of energy, with clear structural changes”, including “the arrival of new players, events in revamped formats and an increasing focus on issues of social impact”. In detail, financing strategies, the role of streamers and sales agents, new film legislation, the future of large markets and informal events, and an industry grappling with a new audience of cinephiles will be the main topics under discussion during this year’s edition.

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Next, Heritage Online will focus on the opportunities “to find a new commercial life for heritage films”. Specifically, four restored titles will be presented and will benefit from heightened visibility in the presence of distributors and festival programmers, thanks to its year-round, online database. These are O dia do desespero by Manoel de Oliveira, Nos Vies Privées by Denis Côté, Das geschriebene Gesicht by Daniel Schmidt and Les derniers passementiers by Yves Yersin.

Locarno Pro will also cement its role as a place for scouting new talent. The 11^th edition of the work-in-progress section, First Look, will present six unreleased German films. Meanwhile, the co-development platform, Alliance 4 Development, will be enriched by the presence of a new partner territory, Austria, which joins Germany, Italy, Switzerland and France in presenting a total of 11 new projects.

Moreover, networking for young professionals will be offered through Match Me!, hosting, on one hand, over 30 up-and-coming producers from 12 territories and, on the other, ten young professionals aged under 30, who are active in the final part of the film supply chain, including distribution, sales, festivals, marketing, VoD, theatrical and programming. They will also take part in Locarno’s Industry Academy programme. An additional group of ten young professionals chosen from previous editions of the festival’s Industry Academies will partake in reflection and Think Tank sessions with mentors.

Furthermore, Locarno Pro Online will unspool once again, in order to help professionals follow the gathering’s activities remotely.

Finally, Open Doors will favour encounters among a delegation of almost 40 directors and producers from Latin America and the Caribbean, and the festival’s industry guests and public. Open Doors will showcase eight projects in advanced development, represented by both directors and producers, nine producers and ten filmmakers introducing their shorts, and eight presenting their features. The participants will have the opportunity to experience the co-production platform, and engage in other network and festival activities.

The 2022 selection of the Co-Production Hub and the Producers’ Hub promises to host “various energetic stories and teams”. Bolivia, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, Peru, Jamaica and Saint Lucia, among other countries, will be represented by projects and producers, who will have a chance to meet Locarno Pro’s industry guests. Films and projects showcased by Open Doors will cover “a varied landscape of themes and genres, from an LGBTQ western to drama, from documentary or crime-thriller to a crowd-pleasing comedy”.