Locarno 2023 Preview: Latest Films from Diaz, Jude, Dupieux, Mandico to Bow at Swiss Film Gathering
Steeped in prestige and tradition, the 76th edition of Locarno Film Festival of 2023 unveiled an intriguing lineup that mirrors the multifaceted spirit of world cinema.
The festival's heart, the Concorso internazionale, promises an extraordinary amalgamation of the old and the new. This year's roster of films, primarily world premieres, competes for the esteemed Pardo d’oro. The event celebrates a union of renowned auteurs and burgeoning filmmakers.
The Concorso internazionale welcomes a diverse range of voices, including French pop-surrealist Quentin Dupieux with Yannick, a ferocious comedy described as his most mature film, Lav Diaz's maximalist storytelling in 215-minute long Essential Truths of the Lake, and Radu Jude's 163-minute-long social satire Do Not Expect Too Much of the End of the World.
Concorso Cineasti del presente, another critical component of the festival, introduces emerging filmmakers. This segment celebrates debut and sophomore feature films from emerging international talents. These offerings go beyond traditional boundaries of genres and forms, forging new paths in creative expression.
The roster sparkles with the entire spectrum of cinematic themes, from audacious erotic comedies such as On the Go, through dreamlike ruminations on life and death like Dreaming and Dying, to eerie thrillers like West Border.
Locarno's iconic Piazza Grande, boasting one of the largest screens globally and a capacity for 8,000 viewers, will showcase the festival's highly anticipated international productions. This year's offerings promise a blend of entertainment, evocative narratives, and immersive experiences, featuring a mixture of fresh releases, tributes to honorees, rejuvenated masterpieces, and cross-genre explorations.
Classic cinema experiences a rebirth with the restoration of Daniel Schmid's La Paloma (1974) and Federico Fellini's La città delle donne (1980). Contemporary cinema too takes the limelight with this year´s Palme d´Or winner Anatomy of Fall and Ken Loach's The Old Oak. The abstract thriller Falling Stars by Richard Karpala and Gabriel Bienczycki deserves special recognition, already pegged as a potential cult classic.
This year's selection includes a barbarian trilogy from the French provocateur Bertrand Mandico with transgressive gender-flipped Connan the Barbarian, Connan, and short films Nous les Barbares and Rainer, a Vicious Dog in a Skull Valley. A new film from Canadian auteur Denis Côté, Mademoiselle Kenopsia, follows a protagonist obsessed with watching over anonymous interiors and occupying them. At the festival will be present Estonian discovery Rainer Sarnet of November, who will introduce The Invisible Fight, a kung-fu comedy from an Orthodox monastery in the Soviet Union in the 1970s.
Concorso internazionale
ANIMAL by Sofia Exarchou
Greece/Austria/Romania/Cyprus/Bulgaria – 2023
World premiere
BAAN by Leonor Teles
Portugal – 2023
World premiere, First Feature
EL AUGE DEL HUMANO 3 by Eduardo Williams
Argentina/Portugal/Netherlands/Taiwan/Brazil/Hong Kong/Sri Lanka/ Peru – 2023
World premiere
ESSENTIAL TRUTHS OF THE LAKE by Lav Diaz
Philippines/France/Portugal/Singapore/Italy/Switzerland/United- Kingdom – 2023
World premiere
THE PERMANENT PICTURE by Laura Ferrés
Spain/France – 2023
World premiere, First Feature
LOUSY CARTER by Bob Byington
USA – 2023
World premiere
MANGA D’TERRA by Basil Da Cunha
Switzerland/Portugal – 2023
World premiere
CRITICAL ZONE by Ali Ahmadzadeh
Iran/Germany – 2023
World premiere
THE INVISIBLE FIGHT by Rainer Sarnet
Estonia/Latvia/Greece/Finland – 2023
World premiere
DO NOT EXPECT TOO MUCH OF THE END OF THE WORLD by Radu Jude
Romania/Luxembourg/France/Croatia – 2023
World premiere
NUIT OBSCURE - AU REVOIR ICI, N’IMPORTE OÙ by Sylvain George
France/Switzerland – 2023
World premiere
PATAGONIA by Simone Bozzelli
Italy – 2023
World premiere, First Feature
ROSSOSPERANZA by Annarita Zambrano
Italy/France – 2023
World premiere
STEPNE by Maryna Vroda
Ukraine/Germany/Poland/Slovakia – 2023
World premiere, First Feature
SWEET DREAMS by Ena Sendijarević
Netherlands/Sweden/Indonesia/Réunion – 2023
World premiere
THE VANISHING SOLDIER by Dani Rosenberg
Israel – 2023
World premiere
YANNICK by Quentin Dupieux
France – 2023
International premiere
Concorso Cineasti del presente
CAMPING DU LAC by Eléonore Saintagnan
Belgium/France – 2023
World premiere, First Feature
EIN SCHÖNER ORT by Katharina Huber
Germany – 2023
World premiere, First Feature
EXCURSION by Una Gunjak
Bosnia-Herzegovina/Croatia/ Serbia/France/Norway/Qatar – 2023
World premiere, First Feature
FAMILY PORTRAIT by Lucy Kerr
USA – 2023
World premiere, First Feature
DREAMING & DYING by Nelson Yeo
Singapore/Indonesia – 2023
World premiere, First Feature
LA MORSURE by Romain de Saint-Blanquat
France – 2023
World premiere, First Feature
NEGU HURBILAK by Colectivo Negu
Spain – 2023
World premiere, First Feature
ON THE GO by María Gisèle Royo, Julia de Castro
Spain – 2023
World premiere, First Feature
RAPTURE by Dominic Sangma
India/China/Switzerland/Netherlands/Qatar – 2023
World premiere
RIVIÈRE by Hugues Hariche
Switzerland/France – 2023
World premiere, First Feature
Piazza Grande
ANATOMIE D’UNE CHUTE by Justine Triet
France – 2023
Swiss premiere
CONTINENT MAGNÉTIQUE by Luc Jacquet
France – 2023
World premiere
GUARDIANS OF THE FORMULA by Dragan Bjelogrlić
Serbia/Slovenia/Montenegro/North Macedonia – 2023
World premiere
DAMMI by Yann Mounir Demange
France – 2023
World premiere
FALLING STARS by Richard Karpala, Gabriel Bienczycki
USA – 2023
World premiere, First Feature
L’ÉTOILE FILANTE by Fiona Gordon, Dominique Abel
France/Belgium – 2023
World premiere
LA BELLA ESTATE by Laura Luchetti
Italy – 2023
World premiere
LA CITTÀ DELLE DONNE by Federico Fellini
Italy/France – 1980
LA PALOMA by Daniel Schmid
Switzerland/France – 1974
