The project will present films from the Concorso Cineasti del presente / Filmmakers of the Present section, available all around the world
For its 69th edition, the Festival del film Locarno presents its first online event in partnership with Festival Scope, the online platform featuring film festivals online for film lovers worldwide.
Each film will screen following its premiere at the Festival and until August 21, in O.V. and with English subtitles.
Only 400 tickets per film will be available to the audience free of charge.
Viewers will have one single access per film with no download option, available on www.festivalscope.com/locarno and on iPad via the Festival Scope Player.
After watching the films, viewers will be asked to vote in order to decide the winner of the CinelabAward, sponsored by Cinelab Bucharest and offering post-production services for a value of 22,000 € to the winning director.
Festival Scope is the online platform which partners with the most prestigious film festivals to present to the audience hand-picked selections of films. Its sister platform, Festival Scope Pro, exclusively reserved for film professionals, has been the go-to service for the industry for more than 6 years.
“It’s with great pleasure that we organically expand our long time collaboration with the Festival del film Locarno, in helping them reach out to new audiences. The aim of Festival Scope is to create an international film festival community, curious and eager to discover new talent”, explain Alessandro Raja & Mathilde Henrot from Festival Scope.
“These online screenings present a real opportunity for producers and sales agents, which will help them better understand the potential of their film. This extra service proposed by our Industry Office is meant to support the films' right holders by collecting important feedback in different parts of the world. The Concorso Cineasti del presente, dedicated to new talents, is the perfect section to explore the opportunities created by a digital platform like Festival Scope”, says Nadia Dresti, Delegate of the Artistic Director and Head of International at the Festival del film Locarno.
Line-up of Festival del film Locarno on Festival Scope
*More films may be added soon
Donald Cried, by Kris Avedisian – available from 5 August * USA 2016, 85', English
Peter Latang left working class Warwick, Rhode Island, to reinvent himself as a slick, Wall Street mover and shaker. Fifteen years later, when he’s forced to return home because of his grandmother’s death, he loses his wallet on the trip. Stranded, the only person he can think of to help him out is his next-door neighbor and former childhood friend Donald Treebeck. Donald hasn’t changed a bit, and what starts off as a simple favor turns into a long van ride into their past.
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This Time Tomorrow (Mañana a esta hora), by Lina Rodríguez – available from 6 August * Colombia - Canada 2016, 85', Spanish
Bogotá, Colombia. 17-year-old Adelaida lives with her parents Lena, an event planner, and Francisco, a sculptor and art teacher. Together, they enjoy a comfortable family life with the usual ups and downs. But cracks are beginning to show. As Francisco isn’t that involved in the domestic details, most of the housekeeping and parental duties fall onto the already overworked Lena. Although she is strong and driven, she struggles to fulfill the role of the working mother. At the peak of her teen angst and facing her own identity crisis, Adelaida is constantly at odds with Lena: one minute she is sweet, caring, studious, and the next one she is wild, tempestuous and defiant, staying out late to spend time with friends and flirting with boys. Until a tragedy occurs and the family has to confront their biggest struggle yet and the uncertainty that tomorrow brings.
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Fishing Bodies (Pescatore di corpi), by Michele Pennetta – available from 6 August * Switzerland 2016, 64', Italian (Sicilian) and Arabic
The Alba Angela sails along the middle of the Strait of Sicily. Salvuccio, the captain, orders the crew to switch off the lights and to cut the engine, as a police patrol will soon be nearby, on the lookout for further landings of illegal immigrants. The crew brings up the nets and silently waits in the dark. In the port of Catania, Ahmed imagines ways of leaving the abandoned boat in which he has been living for five years. At nightfall, he watches a cargo ship unloading goods which are free to circulate throughout Europe. At daybreak, the Alba Angela reaches the port of Catania and berths alongside Ahmed. In this Sicilian town, the illegally fishing trawler, its crew, and the illegal migrant both struggle with poverty, living side by side, in complete ignorance of one another.
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Still Life (Gorge Coeur Ventre), by Maud Alpi – available from 7 August * France 2016, 82', French
The animals arrive at night. They feel it, fight it. Before dawn, a young man takes them to their death, while his dog discovers a terrifying world which seems as if it will never stop.
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Whitered Green (Akhdar Yabes), by Mohammed Hammad – available from 8 August * Egypt 2016, 72', Arabic
After the death of her parents, a traditional and conservative young woman, Iman, has to take care of her younger sister, Noha. When her sibling is faced with a marriage proposal, Iman has to ask her uncles to meet the groom and his family, as customs in Arab societies require the presence of a man from the bride’s side for the marriage agreement. But Iman decides to disregard the adittion.
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Daydreams (L'indomptée), by Caroline Deruas – available from 8 August / Not available in France * France, 98', French and Italian
Axèle is a photographer, Camille is a writer. They meet when they are both awarded a year’s residency at the Villa Medici in Rome. Camille is accompanied by her husband Marc Landré, an acclaimed author. When their marriage becomes curiously competitive, Camille becomes close to Axèle. But who is Axèle really? A committed, uncompromising artist who identifies with her work? Or the ghost of the Villa? From their year at the Villa Medici, where bodies and minds are liberated, no one will emerge intact.
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Dark Skull (Viejo Calavera), by Kiro Russo – available from 9 August / Not available in Bolivia * Bolivia-Qatar, 80', Spanish
Elder Mamaní’s father has died, and it looks as if young Elder couldn’t care less, even though he has no one to take care of him now. He goes to live with his grandmother in the outskirts of the mining city, Huanuni, where Francisco, his godfather, gives him a job at the mine. But it doesn’t take long for Elder, who cares more about getting high and wandering through dangerous alleys at night, to mess it up. But he soon finds out about a dark secret regarding Francisco’s involvement in his father’s death…
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The Future Perfect (El futuro perfecto), by Nele Wohlatz – available from 11 August * Argentina, 65', Spanish and Mandarin
Xiaobin is 17 years old and does not speak a single word of Spanish when she arrives in Argentina. But a few days later, she already has a new name, Beatriz, and a job in a Chinese supermarket. Her family lives in a parallel world in a launderette, far removed from the Argentinians. Xiaobin secretly saves money and enrolls at a language school. She tries out in the street what she learns there. After having learned how to “make appointments”, she arranges to meet a supermarket customer, Vijay. He comes from India, and although they can barely communicate with each other, they start a secret relationship. And when she practises the conditional, the form of possibility, Xiaobin starts thinking about the future. What would happen if her parents learned about Vijay? The more she masters the Spanish language, the more she interferes in the scenario. Her Chinese classmates comment on the events like a chorus.