The Permanent Picture
An elegant, playful exploration of the consolatory but deceptive nature of image-making across generations, from Catalan director-to-watch Laura Ferres is showing in Sarajevo International Film Festival,
Locarno 2023
Locarno 2023: The Verdict
Critics’ faves by Ali Ahmadzadeh and Radu Jude took home top prizes at a strong Locarno Film Festival.
The 76th Locarno Film Festival Awards
Critics and public alike applauded the top 76th Locarno Film Festival Awards to Iran and Romania.
The Invisible Fight
Estonian director Rainer Sarnet’s ‘The Invisible Fight’ is an idiosyncratic tale featuring monks, metal rock, and a manically superb performance from Ursel Tilk.
CineVerdict: Mátalos a todos
Mátalos a todos de Sebastian Molina Ruiz combina la estética grunge en video con elementos epistolares para explorar el sentimiento adolescente de aislamiento .
Kill ‘Em All
A tentative friendship blossoms through video correspondence in ‘Kill ‘Em All’, a deftly observed docudrama filled with youthful uncertainty and poignant loneliness.
Critical Zone
In another angry bulletin from Iran in revolt, Ali Ahmadzadeh’s ‘Critical Zone’ hits censorship out of the ballpark.
Lousy Carter
American indie darling Bob Byington will please his fans with this minor amusing look at an underachieving English lit professor whose greatest disappointment is himself.
Kudos to István Szabó
Feted Hungarian Oscar-winner István Szabó has spent his epic career probing Central Europe’s painful, morally complex history of post-imperial trauma and totalitarian tragedy.
iNTELLIGENCE
A man learns of his own imminent death in iNTELLIGENCE, a strikingly graphic meditation on a curtailed life and the allure of immortality.
Kudos to Renzo Rossellini
Renzo Rossellini has lived an adventurous life on the cutting edge of movies and politics.
Stepne
Maryna Vroda’s richly lensed feature debut is a melancholic look at a dying part of north-eastern Ukraine that’s seemingly untouched by the present war, and while the narrative holds interest thanks especially to the protagonist, it’s the documentary-like scenes that are the film’s heart.
Mohammed Soudani on Ticino, Filmmaking and Family
From soccer to filmmaking, Premio Cinema Ticino-winner Mohammed Soudani has lit, directed, produced and taught cinema in the Swiss region of Ticino, his home for five decades.
CineVerdict: Todos los incendios
En ‘Todos los incendios’ Mauricio Calderón cumple con el reto de hacer una película coming of age -sensible con interés LGBTQ+ y con un estilo personal.
All the Fires
With ‘All the Fires’, first-time director Mauricio Calderón Rico rises to the challenge of a sensitive coming-of-ager with LGBTQ+ interest and a personal style.
Essential Truths of the Lake
Lav Diaz returns to Locarno with A-list collaborators John Lloyd Cruz and Shaina Magdayao in ‘Essential Truths of the Lake’, a fiery noir-inflected takedown of the culture of criminal impunity shaping contemporary Philippine society.
Night Shift
The beguiling Night Shift follows two individuals as they meander around venerated institutions after dark, crafting an entrancing portrait of liminal existences.
A Tortoise’s Year of Fate
A factory worker wrestles with a dispiriting future in this short about a fortune-telling tortoise and a desire for self-determination.
The Beautiful Summer
Laura Luchetti’s freely inspired adaptation of Cesare Pavese’s novel ‘The Beautiful Summer’ features an impeccable cast in a perennially relevant tale about the consequences of sexual awakening.
The Vanishing Soldier
Potent pacing and a charismatic lead propel this absorbing Israeli film in which a young soldier deserts his post during a Gaza incursion and escapes to Tel Aviv where he keeps running.
Kudos to Marianne Slot
Locarno’s 2023 Raimondo Rezzonico Award goes to producer Marianne Slot, who has brought the best of auteur cinema to discerning audiences around the world.
“I don’t want to make cute things”: an interview with director Radu Jude.
Prize-winning Romanian provocateur Radu Jude shares his thoughts on Jean-Luc Godard and Andrew Tate, the Barbie movie and the thrilling power of bad taste.
Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
If the end of the world really is approaching, Jude may be our most trenchant Cassandra.
Manga D’Terra
Set on the multicultural fringes of Lisbon, Swiss director Basil Da Cunha’s third feature ‘Manga D’Terra’ is a slender but big-hearted blend of social realist drama and Afro-diaspora musical.
CineVerdict: Espectáculo a diario. 36 filmes en la retrospectiva mexicana en el Festival de Locarno
Espectáculo a diario. 36 filmes en la retrospectiva mexicana en el Festival de Locarno
Spectacle Every Day – 36 Films in Locarno’s Mexican Retrospective
Spectacle Every Day: The Many Seasons of Mexican Popular Cinema is a retrospective that comes to the Locarno Film Festival full of diversity, history and joy.
The Falling Star
Fiona Gordon and Dominique Abel return with ‘The Falling Star’, another picture more wacky than substantial — and therein lies its charm and limitation.
Tsai Ming-liang Receives Locarno’s Leopard Award
Locarno celebrates the elegant, contemplative work of renowned Asian filmmaker and artist Tsai Ming-liang.
Locarno’s artistic director Giona A. Nazzaro on Hollywood, Locarno and Diversifying the Lineup
Artistic director Giona A. Nazzaro show TFV how bold programming makes Locarno a memorable festival.