Locarno 2011

The critics' selection: "Back To Stay"

The 2011 edition of the biggest film festival in Switzerland was definitely a mixed bag of varying pleasures. For the first three days, its most prominent guest was not warmly welcome: rain. Our socks still remember it. But it didn't dissuade the evening audiences on the Piazza Grande, the greenest (no car allowed) and greatest drive-in in Europe with 8,000 spectators. Run for the second year by Olivier Père, the Festival del Film Locarno saw the return of Hollywood on the Piazza, with open-air screenings of Super 8 by J.J. Abrams, Cowboys and Aliens by Jon Favreau, and Friends with Benefits by Will Gluck.
    A number of more 'cinephile' events echoed back to Père's previous life as a programmer at the Cinemathèque Française: tributes to the Gérard Depardieu-Maurice Pialat partnership, to Harrison Ford, Leslie Caron, Claudia Cardinale and Isabelle Huppert, and an extensive Vincente Minnelli retrospective (which prompted many festival attendees to whisper the mantra "there's always a good film to see in Locarno... and it's a Minelli!") On the industry side, following on from last year's inaugural event, a film market was organised.
    The heart of the Locarno festival remains its International Competition, welcoming newcomers and established names, and displaying a large spectrum of contemporary auteur cinema: we noticed various artistic forms such as American "indie" (Another Earth by Mike Cahill and Terri by Azazel Jacobs), documentary (Special Flight [Vol spécial] by Fernand Melgar), animated documentary (Crulic — The Path to Beyond [Crulic — drumul spre dincolo] by Anca Damian) and 'epic' (Saudade by Katsuya Tomita, running 167 minutes).
    There was also a strong French presence with such different films as Low Life by Nicolas Klotz and Elisabeth Perceval, Last Screening (Dernière séance) by Laurent Achard, Smuggler's Songs (Les chants de Mandrin) by Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche and Goodbye, First Love by Mia Hansen-Løve. The FIPRESCI prize went to Back to Stay (Abrir puertas y ventanas) by Milagros Mumenthaler. This Swiss/Argentinian co-production also won the Pardo d'Oro or Golden Leopard Award for Best Film in the International Competition, while from its cast Maria Canale took the Silver Leopard for Best Actress. (Léo Soesanto)

International Film Festival Locarno, August 3-13, 2011, www.pardo.ch
FIPRESCI Prize: Back to Stay (Abrir puertas y ventanas) by Milagros Mumenthaler. Details

Reports

Arduous Hunt for a Golden Leopard. Pascal Blum finds that this year's International Competition "resembled a tourist-trap tapas bar: an eclectic offering, but no taste whatsoever."
"Another Earth" rises above the competition. Günter H. Jekubzik is dazzled by Mike Cahill's American independent film which uses science-fiction ideas to probe matters of the heart.
A Procession of Overripe Symbols. Yael Shuv combs carefully through the symbolism which abounded in many Golden Leopard candidates.
True To Life. Léo Soesanto managed to find time in between his jury-duties to observe, and even participate in, the making of a new film. One which does not star either Abel Ferrara, Louis Garrel, or Claire Denis.
Ben Rivers and the Abolition of Time. Neil Young is entranced by the British short film "Sack Barrow", and interviews its director.

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