Locarno Shorts Weeks 2023
The Locarno Shorts Weeks are back again, proudly celebrating their fifth edition with a line-up of must-see titles, carefully handpicked from the 2021 edition of the Pardi di domani and Open Doors sections of the Locarno Film Festival. This year, our trademark online event grows in ambition and, more than ever, aims to expand its reach. The audience remains our top priority. There is a wonderful core of cinephiles from all over the world that have consolidated around the Shorts Weeks over the years and remain the solid ground of this enterprise. And then there are the eyes of new curious viewers out there, ready to be seduced by the astounding power of cinema crystallized in its purest short forms. We are looking forward to meeting them. The exciting variety and the degree of formal freedom displayed by the selected shorts prove their power to surf ceaselessly between genres, to transgress preconceived categories, and to test both universal and contemporary topics against the codes of new sensibilities. And it is also a matter of numbers, as the 2023 edition presents an important change: the films shown will increase from 22 to 28 and will no longer be available for seven days, but for the entire month of February, for free on the Festival’s website and on Vimeo. This unique opportunity guarantees greater freedom to our audience, transforming February into an actual month on demand.
Many names and many titles compose the puzzle of this year’s Locarno Shorts Weeks: old favorites, exciting newcomers, young talents and established filmmakers. Highlights from the selection include the top winners of the Pardi di domani’s long-running international and national competitions: Fantasma Neon by Leonardo Martinelli, an explosive indictment of social inequalities in today’s Brazil in the surprising shape of a street musical; and Chute by Nora Longatti, a beautifully composed, piercing study of human solitude and longing for connection. Moreover, for the first time this year, the Locarno Shorts Weeks include a selection from the Festival’s brand-new strand Corti d’autore Competition, dedicated to directors who have already ventured into the feature length, but who are still experimenting with the short form. Besides the winning film Criatura by María Silvia Esteve – a deeply affecting sensorial experience, a journey of the mind through love and hurt – this is also an unmissable chance to discover (or rediscover) new gems by top auteurs such as Radu Jude, Bertrand Mandico, Yann Gonzalez, Cyril Schäublin, Ivete Lucas and Patrick Bresnan.
February is the coolest month. See you all, online.
Eddie Bertozzi, Head of Pardi di domani Selection Committee
