The 45th Locarno Film Festival was held from 5 to 15 August 1992 in Locarno, Switzerland. All 19 films in competition were premieres, 14 were world premieres and the rest European premieres. Ten film in competition were first time features from directors.
This was Marco Mueller's first year as festival head and artistic director following the departure of David Strieff. Mueller wished to refocus the festival as a "market festival" in order to compete in the mid-level film festival circuit.
Under his leadership, the festival adjusted to attract more market buyers. Utilizing its $3.5 million budget, the festival paid for the hotels and food for around 50 distributors and buyers to entice them to attend. In addition, 30 buyers trips were paid for by the European Film Distribution Office (EFDO), which held its annual meeting in Locarno. In total, around 100 market buyers and distributors attended the festival.
The festival also upped its prize money to $50,000 for first prize, the Golden Leopard, $30,000 for the runner up Silver Leopard and $20,000 for the Bronze Leopard. Mueller also launched his pet project and entered into film production. Through the Montecinemaverità Foundation, he created a program to fund new films in exchange for the right to premiere the films at the Locarno festival upon completion.
The opening film of was the newly restored The Leopard directed by Luchino Visconti. Some world premieres included, Daniel Schmid's Off Season in the Piazza Grande and Wolfgang Becker's Child's Play in competition.
The Golden Leopard, the festival's top prize, was awarded to Autumn Moon directed by Clara Law.
Jury Guglielmo Biraghi, Jury Chair, Italian critic and former head of the Venice Film Festival Geoff Gilmore, Sundance program director and UCLA film and television archive director Geraldine Chaplin, American actress Uli Steiger, Swiss Cinematographer
Official Sections
The following films were screened in these sections:
Piazza Grande
The Piazza Grande is Locarno's open-air theater where out-of-competition films are screened. Original Title English Title Director(s) Year Production Country Antigone Danièle Huillet, Jean-Marie Straub 1991 Germany, France Baby Gang Baby Salvatore Piscitelli 1992 Italia Charlotte Vie Ou Theâtre Charlotte Life or Theater Richard Dindo 1992 France Hors Saison Off Season Daniel Schmid 1992 Switzerland, Germany Hyènes Hyenas Djibril Diop Mambéty 1992 Senegal, Switzerland Il Gattopardo The Leopard Luchino Visconti 1963 Italia, France Il Ladro Di Bambini The Thief of Children Gianni Amelio 1992 Italia Juice Ernest Dickerson 1992 USA Kinder Der Landstrasse Children of the Country Road Urs Egger 1992 Switzerland, Germany Le Chêne Oak Lucian Pintille 1992 France, Romania Leo The Last John Norman 1970 Great Britain Mac John Turturro 1992 USA No Dia Dos Meus Anos On My Years João Botelho 1992 Portugal O Dia Do Desespero The Day of Despair Manoel de Oliveira 1992 Portugal Strictly Ballroom Baz Luhrmann 1992 Australia
Main Competition (Concorso Internazionale) The Main Competition featured 14 world premieres and 5 European premieres. Original Title English Title Director(s) Year Production Country Confortorio Conforter Paolo Benvenuti 1992 Italia Das Tripas Coraçao Of the Guts Heart Joaquim Pinto 1992 Portugal Die Terroristen The Terrorists Philip Gröning 1992 Germany Donusa Donkey Angeliki Antoniu 1992 Germany, Greece Eddie King Gidi Dar 1992 Israel Holozän Heinz Bütler, Manfred Eicher 1992 Switzerland, Germany Kairat Darezhan Omirbaev 1992 Kazakhstan Kinderspiele Child's Play Wolfgang Becker 1992 Germany La Vie Crevee Life Shown Guillaume Nicloux 1992 France Mau-Mau Would Want Uwe Schrader 1992 Germany Perumthachan Ajayan 1990 India Qiuyue Autumn Moon Clara Law 1992 Hong Kong, Japan Quartier Mozart Jean-Pierre Bekolo 1992 Cameroon, France Rapado Martín Rejtman 1992 Argentina, Netherlands Rosa Negra Black Pink Margarida Gil 1992 Portugal Sishi Puhuo Family Portrait Li Shaohong 1992 China Video Blues Árpád Sopsits 1992 Hungary Villa Mauresque Moorish Villa Patrick Mimouni 1992 France Zebrahead Anthony Drazan 1992 USA
Leopards of Tomorrow Leopards of Tomorrow (Pardi di Domani) Leopards of Tomorrow / Brazil Program Original Title English Title Director(s) Year Production Country A Pricesa Radar To Princess Radar Roberto Moreira 1992 Brazil Andre Louco Andre Crazy Rosa Berardo 1991 Brazil Chà Verde E Arroz Green Chà and Arroz Toshiko Futemma, Olga Toshiko 1991 Brazil Est Nao E' A Sua Vida It's not 'Your Life Jorge Furtado 1991 Brazil Numa Bira De Estrada In a Roadside Marcos Gutmann, Luis Vidal 1991 Brazil O Desertos Dias O Desserts Dias Fernando Severo 1991 Brazil Rota Abc ABC Route Francisco Cesar Filho 1991 Brazil Uma Noite Com Oswald One Night with Oswald Ricardo Dias, Inacio Zatz 1991 BrazilEx-USSR Special Program D'Une Manière Miserable Miserable André Cirov 1992 Russia L'Autre The Other C. Masloboïchikov 1989 Russia Le Meilleur Des Mondes - Ou Plus Simplement Un Jour The Best of all Worlds - Or more Simply One Day Sergiu Prodan 1992 Moldova Un Pas En Arrière One Step Back Gulnara Oldongarova 1992 KazakhstanPreview Wath'S The Point Eric Stitzel 1992 SwitzerlandProgram Number 1 Imouto To Abura-Age I'm Getting Oiled with My Sister Daisuke Tengan 1991 Japan Murdered Andrius Juzenas 1991 Lithuania The Beauty Or The Beast Mona Heol 1991 Norway Versailles Rive Gauche Versailles Rive Left Bruno Podalydès 1991 FranceProgram Number 2 3000 Years Gravity James Carman 1991 USA Alcibiades Sergio Trefaut 1992 Portugal Das Kleine Objekt A The Small Object a Angelika Levi 1992 Germany Jimbo'S Journey David Kreutz 1992 USA L'Homme Au Sable The Sand Man Massimo Donati 1991 Switzerland Les Marionnettes Puppets Marc Chevrie 1991 FranceProgram Number 3 American Dream Claudio Adani 1991 USA, Italia Eine Live-Schaltung A Live Circuit Peter Kuhn, A. Rios 1992 Germany G.A.S. Manfred Birkl, Walter Steffen 1991 Germany I Thia Yannis Akonidis 1991 Greece Nuits Noires Black Nights Gisèle Cavalli 1991 France Release Me Frances Lea 1991 Great Britain Syn Chrone Syn Chrons Lilli Kirsten 1992 GermanyProgram Number 4 Boxulmaleen Phorny Amet Diallo 1991 Senegal Ecce Homo Here is a Man René A. Hazekamp 1992 Netherlands Homage By Assassination Elia Suleiman 1992 USA Im Schatten Des Padyschah In the Shadow of the Padishah Thomas Bartels 1991 Germany L'Altalena The Swing Vincenzo Terracciano 1991 Italia Revolver Chester Dent 1991 Great Britain What Happened To Pete Steve Buscemi 1992 USAProgram Number 5 Ah, La Primavera Ah, Spring Manuel Rodriguez 1991 Cuba Caught, Looking Costantine Giannaris 1991 Great Britain Femmes Du Metro Metro Women Mendy Younès 1992 USA Jenseits Der Gleise Beyond the Tracks Horst Markgraf 1992 Germany La Course À L'Abîme The Abyss Race Georges Schwizgebel 1992 Switzerland Lavomatic Marie-Luce Felber 1992 Switzerland Le Ali Di Cenere E Cromo The Wings of Ash and Chromium Marco Arnò 1992 France, Italia Macanudo Michael Küspert 1991 Germany Sacramento Ziziounkov 1992 Russia Un Lugar Limpio Y Bien Iluminado A Clean and Well -Lit Place Mariano Bartolomeu 1991 AngolaProgram Number 6 A Horse With Stripes Andrew O'Sullivan 1991 Australia Copiii Marcelarului The Children of the Marcelar Viorica Mesina 1992 Moldova Kastajaiset Baptismal Jukka-Pekka Siili 1992 Finland Maman Kaboul (Mama Esli By Ja Vernulsja T Bakir Kabulov 1991 Russia, Russia Oscuros Rinocerontes Enjaulados Dark Caged Rhinos Juan Carlos Cremata Malberti 1991 Cuba Quem Faz Correr Quim? Who Makes Running Kin? Mariano Bartolomeu 1991 AngolaProgram Number 7 Etc Stefan Gelineo 1992 Serbia L'Ourse Bleue The Blue Bear Marc Chevrie 1990 France Non Schiacciate Quel Bottone Don't Crush that Button Osvaldo Verri 1991 Italia Om I Ona About in ONA Bakir Kabulov 1992 Russia Paula Sergiu Prodan 1992 Moldova Solos Y Soledades Alone and Solitudes Javier Berrios 1991 Cuba The Dead Boy'S Club Mark Christopher 1992 USAProgram Number 8 Ankur Peeter Simm 1991 Estonia Cascaras Mariana Rondón 1991 Venezuela Cat'S Cradle Liz Hughes 1991 Australia Die Schwarze Sonne The Black Sun Johannes Hammel 1992 Austria, Switzerland Ora Et Labora ORA and LABORA Benoît Vlietnick 1991 Belgium Schwitchblade Switchblade Daniel Schäublin 1992 Switzerland Shilde Darezhan Omirbaev 1991 KazakhstanSpecial School Program In Switzerland Antoinette P. Sophie Meyer 1992 Switzerland Apparences Appearances Karine Sudan 1992 Switzerland Countdawn 1992 Switzerland Image Et Realites Image and Realities Daniel von Aarburg 1992 Switzerland La Cure Care Vincent Scalici 1992 Switzerland La Plage Beach Bene Garcia 1992 Switzerland Le Sang De Mon Frère My Brother's Blood Giovanni Piscalicchio 1991 Switzerland Nardo Nard Giovanni Piscalicchio 1990 Switzerland O Sangue E O Leite Blood and Milk Giovanni Piscalicchio 1991 Switzerland Quatre Bulles De Lumière Four Light Bubbles Christian Davi, Ina Volmer 1992 Switzerland Sensunik - Le Vième Sens SENSUNIK - The 6th Meaning Benoît Rossel 1992 Switzerland Trois Dernières Images Last Three Images Chistina Davi, Séverine Schellenberg 1992 Switzerland
Retrospective – Mario Camerini