Piazza Grande in Locarno

  • Locarno cancels the 2020 Festival but relaunches the cinema with the Pardo

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May 13, 2020Locarno 2020 - For the Future of Films launches "The Films After Tomorrow", the first project in this year special for the Festival, whose 73rd edition has been canceled in its physical form. The initial project of Locarno 2020 is dedicated to supporting independent cinema and will invest a part of the finances earmarked for the prizes for feature films in productions that have had to stop their work due to the health emergency. Among these 10 international and 10 national productions selected by the Artistic Direction, two juries will decide the winners of two Pardo 2020 and other prizes that will be announced in the coming weeks. A project also aimed at the public, which will be able to discover a path in the history of the Locarno Film Festival through some selected films of the 20 selected directors.

In continuity with what was anticipated at the end of April, the Locarno Film Festival is pleased to announce the launch of "The Films After Tomorrow", the new project of Locarno 2020 - For the Future of Films, through which the event intends to redefine, together with the its partners, their role in the context of the global health emergency caused by Covid-19, after having to give up its traditional configuration of live event. To continue to pursue its vision in this unprecedented scenario and to keep to the commitment made with the public and partners, the Locarno Film Festival launches as a first project a support fund for film production, frozen in a situation of uncertainty that is putting at risk the possibility for many films to see the light. Work interrupted, filming awaiting editing, professionals and authors who could see the fruit of a long work frustrated: these are the sensitive points on which the Locarno Film Festival has chosen to intervene, to give a sign of closeness to those who work in the sector and guaranteeing its audience the vision of quality cinema also in the future.

The
"The Films After Tomorrow" competition will develop as a competition for 10 international and 10 Swiss productions, the production of which has been interrupted due to the health emergency. The directors of the 20 selected films will present themselves to the public from 5 to 15 August, online, sharing their gaze through a journey through the history of the Locarno Film Festival, each presenting a film that has influenced him. In parallel, the two international juries, which will be chosen by the Artistic Direction, will evaluate the 20 films in competition, awarding some prizes on Saturday 15 August, including two Pardo 2020 worth 70,000 francs each. A tangible, concrete recognition that will allow these films to reach their natural goal: cinemas.

Feature films (minimum duration of 70 minutes) intended for distribution in cinemas, which had to be suspended immediately before the start of shooting, during filming or during editing, due to confinement, will be admitted to the selection phase. You can register your projects starting today, May 12, until May 27, 2020, through the online form published at this address: http://www.locarnofestival.ch/TheFilmsAfterTomorrow.

The selection of the Locarno Film Festival Artistic Direction of the 10 international projects and the 10 Swiss projects that will be announced on June 25 and which will then be judged by the two international juries of "The Films After Tomorrow". The part of the competition dedicated to Swiss productions, whose selection of the 10 projects in competition will be at the discretion of the Artistic Direction, will be organized and promoted in collaboration with SWISS FILMS.

The artistic director Lili Hinstin: “In this moment of difficulty, we tried to imagine a project that could help those auteur films - increasingly difficult to produce - that are the basis of our program. The Leopards 2020 are just a small incentive to make us feel our proximity to the sector. Together with the chosen authors we will build a map of our Festival for the public with the films that still influence the great cinema. We are still working on the other Locarno 2020 projects and we will try to conceive them where it seems to us that we are able to be more useful. "

The
"The Films After Tomorrow" community will also be an initiative aimed at the public, who will be able to participate in the Locarno Film Festival in a new form. The 20 directors selected will in fact contribute to building a real program of visions, meetings and master classes, which can be used on different platforms. Each of them will have the particular task of choosing a film from the history of the Locarno Film Festival, to compose a subjective journey through the history of the event which will be visible online. "The Films After Tomorrow" is the first of the Locarno 2020 - For the Future of Films projects, an edition that will continue to reveal itself and tell the public and professionals over the next few weeks.