Locarno 2024 Preview: Hong Sang-soo, Radu Jude, Wang Bing, and Bertrand Mandico to Reveal New Works

The 77th edition of the Locarno Film Festival (August 7-17) promises an enticing showcase of international cinema. With a staggering 5,679 submissions, the festival has curated a selection of 225 films, featuring 104 world premieres and 5 international premieres to be screened in the picturesque Swiss town of Locarno.

This year’s lineup spans a wide array of genres and styles, with submissions representing 123 countries for features and 122 for shorts and TV series. The festival's inclusive selection highlights films from 29 main production countries and 50 co-production countries, ensuring a rich and diverse cinematic experience. Notably, Swiss cinema will have a robust presence, with 41 Swiss productions featured across various sections of the festival.

The iconic Piazza Grande, the biggest open-air cinema in the Europe, will feature some audience-oriented fare, including Simon Jaquemet's Electric Child and Laetitia Dosch's Le Procès du Chien, Min Bahadur Bham´s Shambhala or the premiere of Tarsem Singh 4K restored The Fall (read the interview).

The Concorso Internazionale section will showcase 17 films vying for the Pardo d’Oro award. The competition is notable for its high representation of female directors, with 41.2% of the films directed by women.

The main competition includes the newest work by tireless and currently most prolific auteur Hong Sangsoo, who has world premiered A Traveller’s Needs at this year's Berlinale, winning the Silver Bear Grand Jury Award. The latest work, By the Stream, stars the director's regular (and his wife) Kim Minhee, Kwon Haehyo and Cho Young, while the story details are still kept under wraps.

Chinese maximalist auteur documentarist Wang Bing brings a follow-up to his Youth (Spring) to Locarno under the title Youth (Hard Times), revolving around “individual and collective stories unfold in Zhili’s textile workshops”. The rising Swiss talent Ramon Zürcher will be unveiling The Sparrow in the Chimney, the final part in “the human coexistence” trilogy following The Strange Kitten and The Girl and The Spider, and described as a fairy-tale family drama full of tenderness, conflict and humor.

Dedicated to first and second features, Concorso Cineasti del Presente, is a platform for emerging talents. Denise Fernandes’ Hanami, Holy Electricity by Tato Kotetishvili or Courtney Stephens´ Invention are among the 15 films selected, showcasing bold storytelling.

The Fuori Concorso section offers a non-competitive space for genre-defying films. Noteworthy entries include Bang Bang by Vincent Grashaw  and a follow-up to Conann, Dragon Dilatation by Bertrand Mandico, which is also still kept under wraps.

Locarno continues its commitment to gender diversity with a notable increase in female and non-binary directors. In the feature selection, 27.4% of directors identify as women, 0.9% as non-binary, and 3.1% as mixed co-directions. For shorts and TV series, 36% of directors are women and 2% are non-binary.

Locarno’s commitment to film heritage is evident in the Histoire(s) du Cinéma section, which will feature retrospectives such as Alain Tanner’s Jonas qui aura 25 ans en l'an 2000 and Marcel Schüpbach’s L’Allégement and a retrospective honoring Stan Brakhage.

Check the line-up below.

Piazza Grande Program
E.T. L’EXTRA-TERRESTRE by Steven Spielberg – USA – 1982 Prefestival
FIORE MIO by Paolo Cognetti – Italy, Belgium – 2024 Prefestival
LE DÉLUGE by Gianluca Jodice – Italy, France – 2024
Opening Ceremony
Excellence Award Davide Campari to Mélanie Laurent and Guillaume Canet
REINAS by Klaudia Reynicke – Switzerland, Peru, Spain – 2024
THE FALL (RESTORED CUT) by Tarsem Singh – South Africa, India, United Kingdom – 2024 Raimondo Rezzonico Award to Stacey Sher
ELECTRIC CHILD by Simon Jaquemet – Switzerland, Germany, Netherlands, Philippines – 2024
UNE FEMME EST UNE FEMME by Jean-Luc Godard – France, Italy – 1961
Leopard Club Award to Irène Jacob
MEXICO 86 by César Díaz – Belgium, France – 2024
SEW TORN by Freddy Macdonald – USA, Switzerland – 2024 Pardo alla Carriera Ascona-Locarno Tourism to Shah Rukh Khan
THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG by Mohammad Rasoulof – Iran, Germany, France – 2024
THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI by Orson Welles – USA – 1947
SHAMBHALA by Min Bahadur Bham – Nepal, France, Norway, Türkiye, Hong Kong, Taiwan, USA, Qatar – 2024 Open Doors Presentation
SAUVAGES by Claude Barras – Switzerland, France, Belgium – 2024 Locarno Kids Award la Mobiliare to Claude Barras
GAUCHO GAUCHO by Michael Dweck, Gregory Kershaw – USA, Argentina – 2024 Vision Award Ticinomoda to Ben Burtt
TIMESTALKER by Alice Lowe – United Kingdom – 2024
RITA by Paz Vega – Spain – 2024
THE PIANO by Jane Campion – Australia, New Zealand, France – 1993 Pardo d’Onore Manor to Jane Campion
LE PROCÈS DE CHIEN by Laetitia Dosch – Switzerland, France – 2024 Closing Ceremony

Concorso Internazionale
AGORA by Ala Eddine Slim Tunisia, France, Saudi Arabia, Qatar – 2024
AKIPLĖŠA (TOXIC) by Saulė Bliuvaitė Lithuania – 2024
BOGANCLOCH by Ben Rivers United Kingdom, Germany, Iceland – 2024 Cast: Jake Williams
CENT MILLE MILLIARDS by Virgil Vernier France – 2024
DER SPATZ IM KAMIN by Ramon Zürcher Switzerland – 2024
FOGO DO VENTO (FIRE OF WIND) by Marta Mateus Portugal, Switzerland, France – 2024
GREEN LINE by Sylvie Ballyot France, Lebanon, Qatar – 2024
LA MORT VIENDRA by Christoph Hochhäusler Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium – 2024
LUCE by Silvia Luzi, Luca Bellino Italy – 2024
MOND by Kurdwin Ayub Austria – 2024
QING CHUN (KU) (YOUTH (HARD TIMES)) by WANG Bing France, Luxembourg, Netherlands – 2024
SUYOOCHEON (BY THE STREAM) by Hong Sangsoo South Korea – 2024
SALVE MARIA by Mar Coll Spain – 2024
SESES (DROWNING DRY) by Laurynas Bareiša Lithuania, Latvia – 2024
SULLA TERRA LEGGERI by Sara Fgaier  Italy – 2024
TRANSAMAZONIA by Pia Marais France, Germany, Switzerland, Taiwan, Brazil – 2024
YENI ȘAFAK SOLARKEN (NEW DAWN FADES by Gürcan Keltek Türkiye, Italy, Germany, Norway, Netherlands – 2024

Concorso Cineasti del presente
CRICKETS, IT’S YOUR TURN by Olga Korotko France, Kazakhstan – 2024
DER FLECK by Willy Hans Germany, Switzerland – 2024
FARIO by Lucie Prost France – 2024
FEKETE PONT (LESSON LEARNED) by Bálint Szimler Hungary – 2024
FOUL EVIL DEEDS by Richard Hunter United Kingdom – 2024
HANAMI by Denise Fernandes Switzerland, Portugal, Cape Verde – 2024
HOLY ELECTRICITY by Tato Kotetishvili Georgia, Netherlands – 2024
INVENTION by Courtney Stephens USA – 2024
JOQTAU by Aruan Anartay Kazakhstan – 2024
KADA JE ZAZVONIO TELEFON (WHEN THE PHONE RANG) by Iva Radivojević Serbia, USA – 2024
KOUTÉ VWA (LISTEN TO THE VOICES) by Maxime Jean-Baptiste Belgium, France, French Guiana – 2024
LES ENFANTS ROUGES by Lotfi Achour Tunisia, France, Belgium, Poland – 2024
MONÓLOGO COLECTIVO by Jessica Sarah Rinland Argentina, United Kingdom – 2024
OLIVIA & LAS NUBES by Tomás Pichardo-Espaillat Dominican Republic – 2024
REAL by Adele Tulli Italy, France – 2024

Pardi di Domani – Concorso Internazionale
400 CASSETTES by Thelyia Petraki – Greece, Germany – 2024
B(L)IND THE SACRIFICE by Nakhane – South Africa – 2024
DESPRE IMPOSIBILITATEA UNUI OMAGIU (ON THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF AN HOMAGE) by Xandra Popescu – Romania, Germany – 2024
DULL SPOTS OF GREENISH COLOURS by Sasha Svirsky – Germany – 2024
FREAK by Claire Barnett – USA – 2024
GENDER REVEAL by Mo Matton – Canada – 2024
GIMN CHUME (HYMN OF THE PLAGUE) by Ataka51 – Germany, Russia – 2024
ICEBERGS by Carlos Pereira – Germany – 2024
LINNUD LÄINUD (ON WEARY WINGS GO BY) by Anu-Laura Tuttelberg – Estonia, Lithuania – 2024
LUDWIG (POWER INFERNO) by Anton Bialas – France – 2024
MOTHER IS A NATURAL SINNER by Boris Hadžija, Hoda Taheri – Germany, Iran – 2024
PUNTER by Jason Adam Maselle – South Africa, USA – 2024
QUE TE VAYA BONITO, RICO by Joel Alfonso Vargas – United Kingdom, USA – 2024
RAZEH–DEL by Maryam Tafakory – Iran, United Kingdom, Italy – 2024
SOLEIL GRIS by Camille Monnier – France, Belgium – 2024
THE CAVALRY by Alina Orlov – Canada, USA, Israel – 2024
THE FORM by Melika Pazouki – Iran – 2024
THE NATURE OF DOGS by Pom Bunsermvicha – Thailand, USA, Singapore, Hong Kong – 2024
WASHHH by Mickey Lai – Malaysia, Ireland – 2024
WHAT MARY DIDN’T KNOW by Konstantina Kotzamani – France, Greece, Sweden – 2024

Pardi di Domani – Concorso Nazionale
BETTER NOT KILL THE GROOVE by Jonathan Leggett – Switzerland – 2024
LOOKING SHE SAID I FORGET by Naomi Pacifique – Switzerland, Netherlands – 2024
LUX CARNE by Gabriel Grosclaude – Switzerland – 2024
MAMAN DANSE by Mégane Brügger – Switzerland – 2024
MÉTROPOLE by Theo Kunz – Switzerland – 2024
PROGRESS MINING by Gabriel Böhmer – United Kingdom, Switzerland – 2024
REVIER by Felix Scherrer – Switzerland – 2024
SANS VOIX by Samuel Patthey – Switzerland – 2024
SKY ROGERS: MANAGER DE STARS by Ciel Sourdeau – Switzerland – 2024
TINDERBOYS by Sarah Bucher, Carlos Tapia – Switzerland – 2024

Pardi di Domani – Concorso Corti d’Autore
1 HIJO & 1 PADRE by Andrés Ramírez Pulido – France, Colombia – 2024
CHOU HE ZHUANG (LIKE WHAT WOULD SORROW LOOK) by Hao Zhou – 2024
GWE–IN ESI JEONGCHE (THE MASKED MONSTER) by Syeyoung Park – South Korea – 2024 JOURS AVANT LA MORT DE NICKY by Denis Côté – Canada – 2024
LA FILLE QUI EXPLOSE by Caroline Poggi, Jonathan Vinel – France – 2024
LES BOUCHES by Valentin Merz – Switzerland, Mexico – 2024
MY LIFE IS WIND (A LETTER) by Anahita Ghazvinizadeh – USA, Sweden – 2024
PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE by Kevin Jerome Everson – USA – 2024
REVOLVING ROUNDS by Johann Lurf, Christina Jauernik – Austria – 2024
UPSHOT by Maha Haj – Palestine, Italy, France – 2024

Title photo ©Locarno Film Festival