News  ·  20 | 07 | 2020

Locarno 2020 Embarks on A Journey in the Festival's History

Films from the history of Locarno, chosen by the directors of The Films After Tomorrow

It's a 70-year journey covering the history of the Festival, from 1948 (Roberto Rossellini's Germany Year Zero) to 2018 (Yolande Zauberman's M). Un viaggio lungo 70 anni nella storia del Festival. Dal 1948 di Germania Anno Zero, di Roberto Rossellini, al 2018 di M, di Yolande Zauberman. The selection of The Films After Tomorrow is broadening the horizons of Locarno 2020 and, while being naturally focused on the future with its line-up of films that are on hold, it offers the audience the chance to rediscover the past of the Locarno Film Festival. The 22 chosen filmmakers have come up with a proper program, A Journey in the Festival's History, devoted to 73 years' worth of cinema in Locarno. It's twenty films, one per project, which will be part of the 2020 edition in two ways: online, on the Festival website in Switzerland and in Locarno's movie theaters, on August 5-15, with screenings at the GranRex, PalaCinema and PalaVideo.

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It would be an impossible task to present a review of the history of the Locarno Film Festival in its entirety: the international full-length features selected since 1946 would add up to over 1,400 titles on their own. Cinephile history, like that of all the arts, is shaped by hidden and unexpected connections between periods, genres and aesthetics. This is the subjective journey that the Festival invites you to join us on this year, a journey led by the gaze of today’s filmmakers, who will also be the creators of the cinema of tomorrow.

The Selection
Alongside the good news of being selected in The Films After Tomorrow, the filmmakers invited to Locarno 2020 also received a list featuring thousands of films, specifically all the films that have ever played at the Locarno Film Festival, one of the oldest cinematic events in the world. Their task was simple: to choose one film each for public viewing. One film only, one that struck them, impressed them, fascinated them, inspired them; one with which they would craft a special program, A Journey in the Festival's History, which will come to life online and in cinemas in Locarno on August 5-15.

These are the 20 films choses by the directors of The Films After Tomorrow:

Germania, anno zero, by Roberto Rossellini – Italy / France / Germany – 1948
Locarno3 - Grand Prix, Prize for best original screenplay (ex æquo), and Best director (second prize)
Picked by Pierre-François Sauter
Online and physical screening

Comizi d’amore, by Pier Paolo Pasolini – Italy – 1964
Locarno17 
Picked by Anna Luif
Online screening

Terra em Transe (Entranced Earth), by Glauber Rocha – Brazil – 1967
Locarno20 - Youth Jury Grand Prix, FIPRESCI International Critics’ Prize, and Swiss Critics’ Prize
Picked by Lisandro Alonso
Online and physical screening

Charles mort ou vif, by Alain Tanner – Switzerland – 1969
Locarno22 - Pardo d’oro and Youth Jury prize
Picked by Raphaël Dubach e Mateo Ybarra
Online and physical screening

Invasión, by Hugo Santiago – Argentina – 1969
Locarno 22 - International Jury Special Mention
Picked by Andreas Fontana
Online and physical screening

In Gefahr und größter Not bringt der Mittelweg den Tod, by Alexander Kluge and Edgar Reitz – Federal Republic of Germany – 1974
Locarno27
Picked by Juliana Rojas
Online screening

India Song, by Marguerite Duras – France – 1975
Locarno28
Picked by Helena Wittmann
Online screening

Mababangong Bangungot (Perfumed Nightmare), by Kidlat Tahimik – Philippines – 1977
Locarno 30
Picked by Verena Paravel e Lucien Castaing-Taylor
Online screening

E Nachtlang Füürland, by Clemens Klopfenstein and Remo Legnazzi – Switzerland – 1981
Locarno34
Picked by Michael Koch
Online and physical screening

Stranger Than Paradise, by Jim Jarmusch – USA/Federal Republic of Germany – 1984
Locarno37 - Grand Prix Pardo d’oro, Grand Prix of the City of Locarno, Ecumenical and Youth Jury Special Mentions
Picked by Marí Alessandrini
Online and physical screening

Kǒng bù fèn zǐ (The Terrorizers), by Edward Yang – Taiwan – 1986
Locarno40 - Special Jury Grand Prix, Pardo d’argento, Second Prize of the City of Locarno
Picked by Eric Baudelaire
Online screening

O Bobo, by José Álvaro Morais – Portugal – 1987
Locarno40 - Grand Prix Pardo d’oro, Grand Prix of the City of Locarno and CICAE Jury Prize
Picked by Miguel Gomes
Online screening

Der siebente Kontinent, by Michael Haneke – Austria – 1989
Locarno 42 - Pardo di bronzo, Ernest Artaria Prize, Fourth Prize of the City of Locarno
Picked by Lav Diaz
Online and physical screening

Metropolitan, by Whit Stillman – USA – 1990
Locarno43 - Pardo d’argento, Special Jury Grand Prix and Second Prize of the City of Locarno
Picked by Axelle Ropert
Online and physical screening

Rapado, by Martín Rejtman – Argentina/Netherlands – 1992
Locarno45
Picked by Lucrecia Martel
Online screening

Au Nom du Christ, by Roger Gnoan M’Bala – Ivory Coast/Switzerland – 1993
Locarno46 - Youth Jury “Environment is quality of life Prize
Picked by Mohammed Soudani
Online and physical screening

Noon-O-Goldoon (A Moment of Innocence), by Mohsen Makhmalbaf – Iran/France – 1996
Locarno49 - Youth jury second prize “Nouveau cinéma” and Official’s Jury Special Mention
Picked by Miko Revereza
Online screening

Cavalo Dinheiro (Horse Money), by Pedro Costa – Portugal – 2014
Locarno67 - Pardo for Best Director
Picked by WANG Bing
Online screening

No Home Movie, by Chantal Akerman – Belgium/France – 2015
Locarno68
Picked by Cyril Schäublin
Online screening

M, by Yolande Zauberman – France – 2018
Locarno71 - Special Jury Prize and Youth Jury “Environment is quality of life” prize
Picked by Elie Grappe
Online and physical screening


The Program

All the films will be available online for free in VOD in Switzerland on the Locarno Film Festival Website.

Ten of the twenty titles selected will also be presented at Locarno in physical screenings in theaters, also thanks to prints made available by Cinémathèque suisse, again from 5 through 15 August, with the season hosted at the Pala Cinema and Gran Rex in Locarno and Pala Video in Muralto.

For viewers outside of Switzerland, MUBI will also host the selection of A Journey in the Festival's History on its platform, and will launch its fifth Direct from Locarno in August, with a selection of films from last year's edition.