A stellar precursor to the busy fall film festival season, Locarno Film Festival annually premieres some of the year’s most exciting cinema and 2023 looks to be no different. Taking place from August 2-12 in the Swiss town, the festival has now unveiled its lineup for the 76th edition. Highlights include Eduardo Williams’ The Human Surge 3 (brilliantly forgoing a second film), Radu Jude’s Do Not Expect Too Much Of The End Of The World, Lav Diaz’s Essential Truths of the Lake, Sylvain George’s Nuit Obscure – Au Revoir Ici, N’Importe Où, and Quentin Dupieux’s Yannick.
Speaking to its main section, Giona A. Nazzaro, artistic director of the Locarno Film Festival, said, “From Quentin Dupieux and his edgy surrealism to Lav Diaz. From the sarcastic humor of Radu Jude to the night poetry of Sylvain Georges. From the mad inventions of Rainer Sarnet to the abstract psychedelia of Eduardo Williams. From the bittersweet comedy of Bob Byington to the Italian revelation of Simone Bozzelli. From the debut of Leonor Teles to the dreams of Ena Sendijarević. From the ominous and dark Tehran of Ali Ahmadzadeh to the tourist resorts of Sofia Exarchou. Not to forget Dani Rosenberg’s praise of desertion and Annarita Zambrano’s extravagant anarchy. And again, the voices of brand-new women such as Laura Ferrés and the Ukrainian Maryna Vroda, who has finally made it to feature film. Switzerland is represented by Basil Da Cunha, one of the most original voices, protagonist of the renewal of Swiss cinema. The world in all its expressions and manifestations is present in the Locarno selection. And therefore, cinema and all its possibilities. All still to be discovered.”
Explore the lineup below via MUBI.
CONCORSO INTERNAZIONALE
Animal (Sofia Exarchou)
Critical Zone (Ali Ahmadzadeh)
Essential Truths of the Lake (Lav Diaz)
Home (Leonor Teles)
The Human Surge 3 (Eduardo Williams)
The Invisible Fight (Rainer Sarnet)
Do Not Expect Too Much Of The End Of The World (Radu Jude)
Lousy Carter (Bob Byington)
Manga D’Terra (Basil Da Cunha)
Nuit Obscure – Au Revoir Ici, N’Importe Où (Sylvain George)
Patagonia (Simone Bozzelli)
The Permanent Picture (Laura Ferrés)
Rossosperanza (Annarita Zambrano)
Stepne (Maryna Vroda)
Sweet Dreams (Ena Sendijarević)
The Vanishing Soldier (Dani Rosenberg)
Yannick (Quentin Dupieux)
Excursion (Una Gunjak)
CONCORSO CINEASTI DEL PRESENTE
Camping du Lac (Eléonore Saintagnan)
Ein Schöner Ort (Katharina Huber)
Excursion (Una Gunjak)
Family Portrait (Lucy Kerr)
Dreaming & Dying (Nelson Yeo)
La Morsure (Romain de Saint-Blanquat)
Negu Hurbilak (Colectivo Negu)
On The Go (María Gisèle Royo, Julia de Castro)
Rapture (Dominic Sangma)
Rivière (Hugues Hariche)
Todos los incendios (Mauricio Calderón Rico)
Touched (Claudia Rorarius)
Und Dass Man Ohne Täuschung Zu Leben Vermag( Katharina Lüdin)
Whispers of Fire & Water (Lubdhak Chatterjee)
West Border (Yan LUO)
Anatomy of a Fall (Justine Triet)
PIAZZA GRANDE
Anatomy of a Fall (Justine Triet)
Continent Magnétique (Luc Jacquet)
Guardians of the Formula (Dragan Bjelogrlić)
Dammi (Yann Mounir Demange)
Falling Stars(Richard Karpala, Gabriel Bienczycki)
L’étoile Filante (Fiona Gordon, Dominique Abel)
La Bella Estate (Laura Luchetti)
City of Women (Federico Fellini)
La Paloma (Daniel Schmid)
La Voie Royale (Frédéric Mermoud)
Smugglers (Ryoo Seung-wan)
The Tragedy of Othello by W. Shakespeare (Edoardo Leo)
Première Affaire (Victoria Musiedlak)
Shayda (Noora Niasari)
The Old Oak (Ken Loach)
Theater Camp (Molly Gordon, Nick Lieberman)