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The jury for the third international competition held to pick the new poster for the Locarno Film Festival has named the winner. By unanimous decision, out of more than 1,000 designs entered, the jurors went for the work submitted by UK duo Sarah and Ciaren Diante. In it, the Festival’s iconic Leopard merges with a female figure and welcomes the touch of a new color – blue – symbolizing openness to a world still changing, and rich in possibilities.
When the competition opened on 31 October 2022, the Festival community responded enthusiastically to the call for ideas on the graphic and aesthetic guidelines for Locarno76: more than a thousand entries were received from all over the world. The winning design is by UK-based duo Sarah Diante and Ciaren Diante. Their concept is a homage to the soul of the Locarno Film Festival and its capacity for establishing an ongoing dialogue with its time. Hence an image in which the traditional leopard seems to merge with a female figure, as also the extreme liberty of a new color, blue, which will enrich the black and yellow palette of the Festival.
Sensual, enigmatic and refined, the Locarno76 poster harks back to English pictorial traditions ranging from the ethereal female portraits of Dante Gabriel Rossetti to the illustrations of Aubrey Beardsley, alongside visual echoes of op art in the 20th century. The image is open but charged with mystery, an invitation to approach what lies beyond acquired values, to yield to the discovery of a world where borders and perspectives constantly shift.
Visit here to read the interview with Sarah and Ciaren Diante and learn more about the project.
The winning design was selected by the President and management of the Festival, who were assisted in the task by a team of external consultants drawn from leading-edge figures in the world of communication, art and film: Emanuele Amighetti (art director, Esquire Magazine Italy), Charlotte Colbert (filmmaker, multimedia artist and winner of the Swatch First Feature Award at Locarno74 for She Will), Walter Fasano (filmmaker and also editor of a number of films by Luca Guadagnino and Dario Argento), Carlo Giordanetti (member of the Swatch Product and Design Committee and CEO Swatch Art Peace Hotel), Patrick Gyger (director of Platforme 10 in Lausanne), Michele Jannuzzi (Director, Jannuzzi Smith and brand consultant for the Festival) and Denise Tonella (director of the Swiss National Museum). As well as appearing on the Festival’s posters, the new design will also be an inspiration for its promotional and information materials, both digital and paper.