Locarno International Film Festival

Locarno International Film Festival

The Film Festival Locarno is an international film festival held annually in August in the city of Locarno, Switzerland since 1946. After Cannes and Venice and together with Karlovy Vary, Locarno is the Film Festival with the longest history. The main feature of the festival is the open-air screening space in the astonishing Piazza Grande, with room for over 8,000 spectators, and with one of the largest open air screens in the world (26x14 metres).

The top prize of the Festival is the Golden Leopard awarded to the best film in the international competition. Other awards include the Leopard of Honour for outstanding career achievements, and the Prix du Public UBS, the public choice award.

The Locarno Film Festival is well known worldwide to be a festival of discovery. Throughout its history the festival has discovered new trends and launched the career of numerous directors and actors. Although the festival aims at the films, rather than at stars and glamour, several well-known personalities of the international film industry have been to the Locarno International Film Festival in recent years. To name just a few: Willem Dafoe, Terry Gilliam, Anthony Hopkins, Aki Kaurismäki, Abbas Kiarostami, Mike Leigh, Ken Loach, Gregg Araki, John Malkovich, Carmen Maura, Rose McGowan, Frank Oz, Michel Piccoli, Robert Rodriguez, Susan Sarandon, Christian Slater, Alexander Sokurov, Wim Wenders and Gus Van Sant.

Read more about Locarno International Film Festival:  Direction and Management, Posters, Gallery

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