The new films by Patricia Mazuy and Sylvie Verheyde will be presented in Competition at the 75th Locarno Film Festival (which will take place from August 3 through 13), among the thirty or so French titles – including minority-French productions and short films – presented during this edition, most of them world premieres. Costa-Gavras will also receive the Pardo alla carriera Ascona-Locarno. This lifetime achievement award pays tribute to a personality "whose artistic contributions have redefined cinema and the collective imagination."
Sylvie Verheyde (Stella in Love) and Patricia Mazuy (Bowling Saturne) will hence represent French cinema in Competition at the 75th edition of the prestigious Locarno Film Festival. This is a return to the Swiss festival for Patricia Mazuy after she won the Bronze Leopard there in 1993 for Travolta and Me.
The latest films by Jean Paul Civeyrac (A Woman) and Blandine Lenoir (Angry Annie) will be honored in the Piazza Grande, Locarno's prestigious screening venue.
The Concorso Cineasti del presente competitive strand will feature two French debut titles: Astrakan by David Depesseville, and Littles Ones by Julie Lerat-Gersant. The documentary Le Fleuve n'est pas une frontière by Alassane Diago, a majority-French coproduction, has been selected for Semaine de la critique.
In terms of short films, a dozen French productions will be screened in the Pardi di domani competitive sections (Concorso internazionale, Concorso nazionale, and Concorso Corti d'autori: Castells by Blanca Camell Gali, L'Enfant au diamant by Pierre-Edouard Dumora, L'Ombre des papillons by Sofia El Khyari, Euridice, Euridice by Lora Mure-Ravaud, Fairplay by Zoel Aeschbacher, Big Bang by Carlos Segundo, Chant pour la ville enfouie by Nicolas Klotz and Élisabeth Perceval, Il faut regarder le feu brûler dedans by Caroline Poggi and Jonathan Vinel, Poitiers by Jérôme Reybaud, and Rien ne sera plus comme avant by Elina Löwensohn.
We also note that the film director Alain Guiraudie will be a member of the Concorso Internazionale Jury and that the producer Madeline Robert will be among the First Feature Jury members.
Unifrance at Locarno
On Friday, August 5, Unifrance will host a cocktail reception in honor of French cinema, in the presence of the French Ambassador to Switzerland and French film delegations attending the festival (by invitation only).
In addition, in its desire to support the international outreach of emerging French producers, Unifrance has entered into a new partnership with the festival, and will allow three member companies to participe in the Match Me! programe.
The names of the selected companies will be announced on July 18.
French cinema at the 75th Locarno Film Festival
Concorso internazionale
- Stella in Love by Sylvie Verheyde
- Bowling Saturne by Patricia Mazuy
- I Have Electric Dreams by Valentina Maurel (coproduction share level has not been communicated)
- Regra 34 by Julia Murat (coproduction share level has not been communicated)
- Tommy Guns by Carlos Conceição (coproduction share level has not been communicated)
- Tales of the Purple House by Abbas Fahdel (coproduction share level has not been communicated)
- The Adventures of Gigi the Law by Alessandro Comodin (coproduction share level has not been communicated)
- Human Flowers of Flesh by Helena Wittmann (minority-French coproduction)
Fuori concorso
- Obscure Night - Wild Leaves by Sylvain George
- Where Is This Street? or With No Before or After by João Rui Guerra Da Mata, João Pedro Rodrigues (coproduction share level has not been communicated)
- Continental Drift (to the South) by Lionel Baier (minority-French coproduction)
Piazza Grande
- A Woman by Jean Paul Civeyrac
- Angry Annie by Blandine Lenoir
- No Dogs or Italians Allowed, by Alain Ughetto
- You Will Not Have My Hate by Kilian Riedhof (minority-French coproduction)
- The Sleeping Car Murder by Costa-Gavras (retrospective film)
Cineasti del presente
- Littles Ones by Julie Lerat-Gersant
- Astrakan by David Depesseville
- It Is Night in America by Ana Vaz (coproduction share level has not been communicated)
- Fragments from Heaven by Adnane Baraka (coproduction share level has not been communicated)
- Arnold Is a Model Student by Sorayos Prapapan (coproduction share level has not been communicated)
- Matadero by Santiago Fillol (French-minority coproduction)
- Nightsiren by Tereza Nvotová (French-minority coproduction)
Histoire(s) du cinéma
- Heart of a Dog by Laurie Anderson
- The Day of Despair by Manoel De Oliveira
- Shock Troops by Costa-Gavras
Locarno Kids
- Yuku and the Flower of the Himalayas by Arnaud Demuynck, Rémi Durin
- Dragon Princess by Anthony 'Tot' Roux, Jean-Jacques Denis
- Bombay Rose by Gitanjali Rao (French-minority coproduction)
Semaine de la Critique
Panorama Suisse
- Olga by Elie Grappe (French-minority coproduction)
The full selection can be found here
