The 79thy The Locarno Film Festival is fast approaching, and organizers have now revealed the full line-up of this year’s juries that determine the winners of the Pardo d’Oro, or Golden Leopard, and the Swiss festival’s other awards.
The jury of the international competition Concorso Internazionale will be chaired by Belgian director Fabrice de Welz (Love, Passion according to Beatrice. He is joined by Italian producer Marco Alessi, founder of Rome-based Dugong Films and one of the producers of Bertrand Mandico’s film. Flexible RomeAmong this year’s lineup, which is not competing, is French actress Lolita Chammah (Copacabana, barrage(Daughter of Isabel Huppert, Chilean actress Paulina Garcia)Gloria) and Olivier Beare, former Artistic Director of the Locarno Film Festival and current Executive Director of ARTE France Cinéma and Head of its Cinema Unit since 2012.
Films in the Concorso Cineasti del Presente, or Filmmakers of the Present programme, dedicated to emerging directors, will be judged by Tunisian actress, director and producer and director of the Gabès Cinéma Fen Festival Afef Ben Mahmoud, and Czech producer and director Radovan Seibert, responsible for shepherding international productions such as the Oscar-winning film. Mr. Nobody is against Putin And Italian director Margherita Spampinato (dear).
Meanwhile, the Barde de Doumani section, which focuses on future filmmakers, will be judged by a jury composed of Lebanese director, writer and actress Mounia Akl (Costa Brava, Lebanon; House of Guinness), South African producer Steven Markowitz (My friend, omen) and Italian director Antonio Piazza (Sicilian letters).
The feature film jury, which honors the best debut in the festival’s slate with the Swatch Feature Film Prize, consists of Matteo Darras, director of Tattino, who has programmed at Cannes, Venice, San Sebastian, and Turin Film Lab; Sung Moon, programmer of the Jeonju International Film Festival and former member of the Korean Film Council; and Swiss-Peruvian director Claudia Reineke (Queens).
The Pardo for Change honor “reflects Locarno’s commitment to cinema that engages with pressing environmental, ethical, social and cultural issues of broad social significance.” The jury includes Gianluca Grossi, a freelance war correspondent, writer and playwright; Somali-Austrian director Mo Haraway (The village next to the paradise) and Sita Thakur, Head of Communications and Social Innovation at Wyss Nature Academy.
“Choosing those whose eyes will see films in the competitive divisions is a task that always brings out desires and emotions,” said Giona Nazzaro, Artistic Director at Locarno. “Diversity of talent meets diversity of viewpoints. However, in the end, what matters most is the willingness to surprise, astonish, and embrace the unexpected.”
The 79th Locarno Film Festival is scheduled to be held from August 5 to 15.
