Pardi di domani

Once again, the Pardi di domani section offers a fascinating, vibrant overview of the best of contemporary short-form filmmaking, from talented and noteworthy directors who have not yet made their first feature. These include the Austrian collective Total Refusal, who explore the lives of non-playable videogame characters in Hardly Working, a more serious answer to last year’s Piazza Grande hit Free Guy, or Iranian director Hoda Taheri, who takes inspiration from her own life for Madar tamame rooz doa mikhanad (Mother Prays All Day Long), about a refugee living in Berlin and dealing with bureaucratic and sentimental complications. And that’s just a sample of the international competition, which travels from Serbia to Argentina, from China to Cuba, from Japan to the Democratic Republic of Congo. On the Swiss side, in the national competition, Euridice, Euridice marks the highly anticipated return of Lora –Mure-Ravaud, whose first two shorts premiered in Locarno as well. Also returning is the Lucerne-born Kim Allamand, back in the section with his new work Heart Fruit. In addition to the standard program, Pardi di domani is also hosting a special event, tied to the Spring Academy that was held in March: the premiere screening of Let’s make something!, a collection of films by young talents that were filmed under the supervision of an exceptional mentor, Michelangelo Frammartino. Overall, as section head Eddie Bertozzi explains, “It’s a selection of 40 films united by discovery, surprise and redefining what we expect from cinema today. The main recurring theme is the body, as the space of contemporary crisis, to question the legacy of the past and be ready for future revolutions.”

Max Borg