Today saw Giona A Nazzaro, artist director of the Locarno Film Festival, unveil the line-up for the 78th edition of the event (running from 6-16 August - read news), including the movies gracing the festival’s ever-interesting parallel sections.

The Filmmakers of the Present competition, dedicated to first and second works by young directors, described as a space “pervaded by genuine curiosity for the many possibilities offered by film” in which the presented films “plough the furrow for the future”, includes 15 feature films this year (all in world premieres), of which many are European productions and co-productions (an impressive 14 out of 15). These include Affection Affection, the second feature film shot by Swiss director Alexia Walther and French filmmaker Maxime Matray, their new film after Blonde Animals (selected in Venice’s International Critics’ Week); A Balcony in Limoges by French director Jérôme Reybaud, which follows a woman who’s decided to live on the fringes of society; the documentary Hair, Paper, Water… co-directed by Belgium’s Nicolas Graux and Vietnam’s Minh Quý Trương (his latest work after Viet and Nam, screened in last year’s Un Certain Regard section in Cannes) and looking into Vietnam’s French postcolonial legacy; Balearic by Spain’s Ion de Sosa (selected for the Berlinale Forum via Androids Dream), which is a surreal comedy about a group of teens monitored by three Dobermanns who keep them confined to a swimming pool in the villa which they’ve snuck into; and Don’t Let the Sun by Switzerland’s Jacqueline Zünd (Where We Belong, selected for Berlin’s Generation line-up), which is a sci-fi film revolving around ecology in a world on the verge of exploding. There’s also Sweetheart by Italy’s Margherita Spampinato, an intimate and poetic film charting the adventures of a child who’s spending the summer at his grandma’s house in Sicily; Don’t Let Me Die by Romania’s Andrei Epure, a charming yet destabilising film blending comedy, realism and genre film to explore the absurdities of a society plagued by apathy; queer comedy Fantasy by Slovenia’s Kukla, which explores the difficulties involved in being oneself in a society suffocated by Catholicism; Becoming by the Kazakh director based in London Zhannat Alshanova, which is a coming of age film following a young swimming fanatic who’ll do anything to achieve her goals; The Plant From the Canaries by the Chinese director based in Berlin Ruan Lan-Xi, an intense film which tackles the topic of the South Korean diaspora in Berlin; Blue Heron by Canada’s Sophy Romvari, which examines, through the eyes of the youngest son, the internal dynamics of a family who have decided to move to Vancouver Island; Olivia by Argentina’s Sofía Petersen, described by Giona A. Nazzaro as “the most powerful and most formal film in the line-up”; Hijo Mayor by Argentina’s Cecilia Kang, which is part documentary, part fiction and which focuses on the Korean diaspora in Latin America; and The Fin by South Korea’s Park Syeyoung, which is a sci-fi film about identity and the relationship between the two Koreas. Eric K Boulianne’s Canadian film Folichonneries rounds off the selection.

As for the incredible Piazza Grande (boasting one of the biggest screens in the world), this section will be welcoming 14 films this year, including 4 world premieres. No less than 11 of these 14 movies are European productions and co-productions. On the production side we find the festival’s opening film, In the Land of Arto, by Armenia’s Tamara Stepanyan, painting a poignant portrait of a woman forced to face up to the ghosts of the past; The Birthday Party by Spain’s Miguel Ángel Jiménez, based on Panos Karnezis’ novel of the same name, starring actors along the lines of Willem Dafoe and Emma Suárez, and depicting a family which had fallen apart and the reconciliatory power of art; and (the first two episodes of) the series The Deal by Switzerland’s Jean-Stéphane Bron, which charts the process which led to the signing of the agreement on Iran’s nuclear power. Co-productions, meanwhile, include the action thriller The Dead of Winter by Northern Ireland’s Brian Kirk; the touching and courageous work Irkalla - Gilgamesh’s Dream by Iraqi-Dutch director Mohamed Jabarah Al-Daradji, and the closing film, Kiss of the Spider Woman, by US director Bill Condon, which is a musical adaptation of the musical of the same name, which is itself based on Manuel Puig’s novel El beso de la mujer araña. Films hailing from the most recent Cannes Film Festival include It Was Just an Accident by Jafar Panahi, which won the Palme d’Or; Sentimental Value by Joachim Trier, awarded the Grand Prize; The Little Sister by Hafsia Herzi, which won its protagonist Best Actress, and Heads or Tails? by Alessio Rigo de Righi and Matteo Zoppis, which was selected in the Un Certain Regard section. Last but not least, Stanley Kubrick’s now legendary movie, The Shining, and its notoriously terrifying scenes, are set to leave the Piazza audience’s nerves in shreds.

Lastly, the titles selected for the Leopards of Tomorrow scetions and the Semaine de la Critique have also been announced.

The selected films:

Filmmakers of the Present

Becoming - Zhannat Alshanova (France/Kazakhstan/Netherlands/Lithuania/Sweden)
Folichonneries  - Eric K Boulianne (Canada)
Balearic  - Ion de Sosa (France/Spain)
Don’t Let Me Die - Andrei Epure (Romania/Bulgaria/France)
Hair, Paper, Water…  - Nicolas Graux, Minh Quý Trương (Belgium/France/Vietnam)
Hijo Mayor  - Cecilia Kang (Argentina/France)
Fantasy  - Kukla (Slovenia/North Macedonia)
The Plant from the Canaries  - Ruan Lan-Xi (Germany)
Olivia  - Sofía Peterson (Argentina/UK/Spain)
A Balcony in Limoges  - Jérôme Reybaud (France)
Blue Heron  - Sophy Romvari (Canada/Hungary)
Sweetheart – Margherita Spampinato (Italy)
The Fin  - Park Syeyoung (South Korea/Germany/Qatar)
Affection Affection - Alexia Walther, Maxime Matray (France)
Don’t Let the Sun  - Jacqueline Zünd (Switzerland/Italy)

Piazza Grande

In the Land of Arto – Tamara Stepanyan (France/Armenia) (opening film)
The Deal – Jean-Stéphane Bron (Switzerland/France/Luxembourg/Belgium) (series)
Police Story – Jackie Chan (Hong Kong) (1985)
The Little Sister – Hafsia Herzi (France/Germany)
Irkalla - Gilgamesh’s Dream – Mohamed Jabarah Al-Daradji (Iraq/United Arab Emirates/Qatar/France/UK/Saudi Arabia)
The Birthday Party – Miguel Ángel Jiménez (Greece/Spain/Netherlands/UK)
The Dead of Winter – Brian Kirk (USA/Germany)
The Shining – Stanley Kubrick (UK/USA) (1980)
Rosemead – Eric Lin (USA)
It Was Just an Accident – Jafar Panahi (Iran/France/Luxembourg)
Heads or Tails? – Alessio Rigo de Righi, Matteo Zoppis (Italy/USA)
Together – Michael Shanks (Australia/USA)
Sentimental Value – Joachim Trier (Norway/France/Denmark/Germany/Sweden)
Kiss of the Spider Woman – Bill Condon (USA/Uruguay) (closing film)

Leopards of Tomorrow - International Competition

Baisanos – Andrés Khamis Giacoman, Francisca Khamis Giacomon (Chile/Spain/Palestine)
Unleaded 95 – Emma Hütt, Tina Emy Muffler (Austria/Germany)
Blind, Into The Eye – Atefeh Kheirabadi, Mehrad Sepahnia (Germany/Iran)
Boa – Alexandre Dostie (Canada/France)
Ce qu’on laisse derrière – Alexandra Myotte, Jean-Sébastien Hamel (Canada)
The Uniformed – Timon Ott (Germany)
Eldorado – Anton Bialas (France)
Force Times Displacement – Angel WU (Taiwan)
Honey, My Love, So Sweet – JT Trinidad (Philippines)
Hyena – Altay Ulan Yang (USA)
Jolie petite histoire – Elodie Beaumont Tarillon (France)
Goats! – Tonći Gaćina (Croatia/France)
Plàncton – Irene Moray (Spain/France)
Peninsula - David Gašo (Croatia)
Primera enseñanza – Aria Sánchez, Marina Meira (Cuba/Spain)
Randaghi – Enrico Motti, Emanuele Motti (Italy)
Still Playing – Mohamed Mesbah (France)
Un ciel si bas – Joachim Michaux (Belgium/France)
Una vez en un cuerpo – María Cristina Pérez González (Colombia/USA)
Yo Yo – Mohammadreza Mayghani (Iran/France)

Leopards of Tomorrow - National Competition

Air Horse One – Lasse Linder (Switzerland/Belgium)
I’m Not Sure – Luisa Zürcher (Switzerland)
L’avant-poste 21 – Camille Surdez (Switzerland)
Les dieux – Anas Sareen (Switzerland)
Lost Touch – Justine Klaiber (Switzerland)
Nest – Stefania Burla (Switzerland)
Noirs matins – David Gonseth (Switzerland)
Rio Remains Beautiful – Felipe Casanova (Belgium/Brazil/Switzerland)
Tusen Toner – Francesco Poloni (Switzerland)
Yonne – Julietta Korbel, Yan Ciszewski (Switzerland/France)

Leopards of Tomorrow - Corti d’Autore Competition

A Very Straight Neck – Neo Sora (Japan/China)
Cairo Streets – Abdellah Taïa (France)
Hysterical Fit Of Laughter – Dušen Zorić, Matija Gluščević (Serbia/Croatia)
Index – Radu Muntean (Romania)
The Sleeping Beauty – Mattie Do (USA/Laos/Thailand)
Slet 1988 – Marta Popivoda (Germany/France/Serbia)
Solitudes – Ryan McKenna (Canada)
Late Harvest – Katharina Huber (Germany)
The Dog Is My Dog – Salvatore Mereu (Italy)
Une fenêtre plein sud – Lkhagvadulam Purev-Orchir (France/Mongolia)

Semaine de la Critique

In the Penal Colony - Gaetano Crivaro, Silvia Perra, Ferruccio Goia, Alberto Diana (Italy)
Green Light - Pavel Cuzuioc (Austria/Romania)
Celtic Utopia - Dennis Harvey, Lars Lovén (Sweden/Ireland)
The Cowboy - André Hörmann (Germany/USA)
Silent Legacy - Jenni Kivistö, Jussi Rastas (Finland/France/Burkina Faso)
She - Parsifal Reparato (Italy/France)
Flying Scents - of Plants and People - Antshi von Moos (Switzerland)