62nd Locarno Film Festival News

The fest this year will run from August 5 to 15 and tomorrow, July 16, the official line-up will be annouced.

While we wait for tomorrow’s announcement here are some news.

Opening Film: 500 Days of Summer, Marc Webb, USA, 2009; the film was premiered at the 2009 Sundance and since then ha been screened at many USA fests. The international premiere was at Sydney fest. Not that I’m really looking forward to watch it but probably will be entertaining with all the music/songs involved.

The 2009 Leopard of Honour goes to American director William Friedking and the 1985 film To Live and Die in L.A. will be screen during the fest to mark the occasion. A masterclass will also take place at the Spazio Cinema and is open to the public.

The 2009 Excellence Award goes to none other than laurated Toni Servillo! Here is an excerpt from the press release.

Italian actor Toni Servillo will be one of the guests of honour at the 62nd edition of the Locarno International Film Festival, where he will receive an Excellence Award and will also conduct a conversation with the audience.

Open Doors Factory 2009

The jury for the Locarno Festival’s Open Doors co-production lab has selected 12 projects (out of 114 applications from Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan Island) to participate in the final phase of the 2009 session. This year the Open Doors Factory is devoted to Greater China, and will take place from 9 to 11 August 2009, during the 62nd edition of the Locarno International Film Festival.

The selected projects are:

ABERDEEN by PANG Ho-cheung – Hong Kong
AN EVERLASTING DAY by Wanmacaidan – Mainland China
BLOODSHED by GUAN Hu – Mainland China
BUS N°8 by YANG Qing – Mainland China
DON'T EXPECT PRAISES by YANG Jin – Mainland China
ELEVEN FLOWERS by WANG Xiaoshuai – Hong Kong
FATHER by ZHANG Lu – Mainland China
HELP by LI Ying – Mainland China
LITTLE WINGS by Emily Tang – Hong Kong
TREE by HAN Jie – Mainland China
UFO IN HER EYES by GUO Xiaolu – Mainland China
WINTER VACATION by LI Hongqi – Mainland China

I know that summer is the worst time for good movies, but I’m glad that we have only one more month to come and summer will be almost over! Still in August there are some very interesting festivals like Locarno’s that help to pass this dry season faster.

I’ll be posting the official line-up plus the films in the different sections as soon as they become available.