“Appointment as a spectator at the next Festival!”

We have also come to the end of this 76th Locarno festival, it’s time to take stock. Of course, I could not follow all sections of the Festival, like everyone else, I created my own individual path, my own personal festival, knowing full well that I would probably miss a lot of interesting works, but on the other hand, it is difficult to achieve omnipresence. I regret not being able to see much of the retrospective of classic and popular Mexican cinema, highly acclaimed by the many dedicated audiences who filled the Rex Cinema and enjoyed entertaining and historically important films. I focused on the competition and on the films of the Square, the former being the very essence of the Festival, and the Square being the privileged space of the general public, made up of “normal” people, not just film professionals.

The most exciting moment was undoubtedly Ken Loach’s “Old Oak”, which was met with a long and emotional applause from a large audience that filled the entire space in the square. An applause more than deserves a work full of emotions, touching, beautifully written and played! Other works that we will certainly remember are Anatomy of a Blue Parachute, Palme d’Or of the Cannes Film Festival, then Voyage on the South Field and, to a lesser extent, La Belle Manor, an Italian film inspired by Cesare Pavese well played by the Virgin Cassel, daughter of Monica Bellucci and Vincent Cassel. The competition, on the other hand, was very intermittent, offering very strong moments, great cinematography, and a few scary punches to forget about.

My personal palmares are the Ukrainian “Stepnia”, a ruthless portrait of post-Soviet society, the French “Janick”, the audience’s distortion of the theatrical evening, and the American “Lucy Carter”, a Woody Allen comedy well written and acted. We put a pitiful veil on some films, but a well-known Italian critic said: “When I see three or four good films at the festival, I am happy.” The advice I want to give for the coming years is to invite the audience of the festival and keep a close eye on another competition, the competition of the filmmakers of the present, where interesting discoveries can be made. As for the spectators, they remained faithful, filling the halls and flocking to the square, except on the first rainy evenings. Unfortunately, President R.R. no longer with his special relationship with the Madonna de Sasso.

In anticipation of news from the new President Maia Hoffmann, hugs to Marco Solari, who tonight will be able to greet the audience of the festival with the traditional phrase: “Appointment as a spectator at the next festival!”.