The 61st Locarno Film Festival was held from 6 to 16 August 2008 in Locarno, Switzerland. The opening film of the festival was the European premiere of Brideshead Revisited directed by Julian Jarrold. The closing film of the festival was the European premiere of Back Soon directed by Solveig Anspach.
This was a successful year at the festival for distribution deals with five of 18 films in-competition getting international distribution deals at the festival. Of the fourteen films in competition that started the festival looking for a sales agent ten found a seller.
Gianfranco Pannone's documentary II sol del'awenire (Tomorrow's Sun) attracted controversy from Italian Minister of Culture Sandro Bondi. The film has sections about the Red Brigades, the Italian Marxist–Leninist group in the 70s and 80s. Bondi said this was offense to family members of those killed in the Years of Lead. He suggested the state should not have funded the picture. This drew criticism from industry professionals at Locarno who defended the film.
The Golden Leopard, the festival's top prize, was awarded to Parque Via directed by Enrique Rivero. This was the first Mexican film to win the Golden Leopard. Official Jury Paolo Sorrentino, Italian director Bertha Navarro, Mexican producer Masashiro Kobayashi, Japanese director Dani Levy, Swiss director
Sections
The following films were screened in these sections: Piazza Grande English Title Original Title Director(s) Year Production Country1001 Films André Delvaux 1989 Belgium Destiny Al-Massir Youssef Chahine 1997 FranceBack Soon Sólveig Anspach 2008 IcelandBerlin Calling Hannes Stoehr 2008 GermanyBrideshead Revisited Julian Jarrold 2007 United KingdomChaos Theory Marcos Siega 2007 USAChoke Clark Gregg 2007 USA Dead in 3 Days 2 In 3 Tagen Bist Du Tot 2 Andreas Prochaska 2008 Austria Khamsa Karim Dridi 2008 France The Girl from Monaco La Fille De Monaco Anne Fontaine 2008 France Lecture 21 Lezione 21 Alessandro Baricco 2008 ItalyMarcello Marcello Denis Rabaglia 2008 SwitzerlandNight and the City Jules Dassin 1950 USA North Face Nordwand Philipp Stölzl 2008 GermanyOutlander Howard McCain 2008 USA Red Wood Pigeon Palombella Rossa Nanni Moretti 1989 Italy One Day You'll Understand Plus Tard Tu Comprendras Amos Gitai 2008 France Retouches (short) Georges Schwizgebel 2008 SwitzerlandSon of Rambow Garth Jennings 2007 FranceThe Eternity Man Julien Temple 2008 Australia I know (short) Vem (short) Jan Cvitkovič 2008 Slovenia
International Competition English Title Original Title Director(s) Year Production Country 33 Scenes of Life 33 Sceny z zycia Malgoska Szumowska 2008 GermanyDaytime Drinking NOH Young-Seok 2008 South Korea Dioses Josué Méndez 2008 Peru All That She Wants Elle Veut Le Chaos Denis Côté 2008 Canada Katia's Sister Het Zusje Van Katia Mijke de Jong 2007 NetherlandsKisses Lance Daly 2008 IrelandFeast of Villains Liu Mang De Sheng Yan Pan Jianlin 2008 ChinaBlack Sea Mar Nero Federico Bondi 2008 Italy March März Klaus Händl 2008 Austria Nowhere Promised Land Nulle Part Terre Promise Emmanuel Finkiel 2008 FranceParque Via Enrique Rivero 2008 MexicoSleep Furiously Gideon Koppel 2007 United Kingdom Autumn Sonbahar Özcan Alper 2008 GermanyStory of Jen François Rotger 2008 FranceThe Market - A Tale Of Trade Ben Hopkins 2008 Germany Doomed Love Um Amor De Perdição Mário Barroso 2008 Portugal Another Man Un Autre Homme Lionel Baier 2008 Switzerland Yuri's Day Yuriev Den Kirill Serebrennikov 2008 Russia
Filmmakers of the Present The Concorso Cineasti del Presente, also known as the Filmmakers of the Present Competition, showcases first and second feature films from emerging filmmakers.
Filmmakers of the Present Original Title English Title Director(s) Year Production Country A Zona And Zona Sandro Aguilar 2008 Portugal Alicia En El Pais Alicia in the Country Esteban Larrain 2008 Chile Beket Boe Davide Manuli 2008 Italy El Brau Blau The Blue Brau Daniel V. Villamediana 2008 Spain El Sueño Del Perro Dog's Dream Paulo Pécora 2008 Argentina Filmefobia Filmia Kiko Goifman 2008 Brazil Je Ne Suis Pas Morte I'm not Dead Jean-Charles Fitoussi 2008 France Kinogamma Part One: East Siegfried 2008 France Kinogamma Part Two: Far East Siegfried 2008 France La Forteresse The Fortress Fernand Melgar 2008 Switzerland La Orilla Que Se Abisma The Shore that is Abyssed Gustavo Fontan 2008 Argentina La Vie Ailleurs Life Elsewhere David Teboul 2008 France Napoli Piazza Municipio Naples Piazza Municipio Bruno Oliviero 2008 Italy Par Dzimteniti For the Homeland Laila Pakalniņa, Maris Saadi 2008 Latvia Prince of Broadway Sean Baker 2008 USA Shorei X First Order X Kohki Yoshida 2007 Japan Welate Efsane Legal Country Rahim Zabihi 2008 Germany
Filmmakers of the Present - Out of Competition Original Title English Title Director(s) Year Production Country Avant Que Tu Reviennes Before you Come Back Pascal Rambert 2008 France Giu' Le Mani John the Hands Danilo Catti 2008 Switzerland Le Petit Chaperon Rouge Little Red Riding Hood Shinji Aoyama 2008 France Malika S'Est Envolee Malika Took Off Jean-Paul Civeyrac 2008 France
Open Doors: Screenings Original Title English Title Director(s) Year Production Country Baixio Das Bestas Basso Das Beasts Cláudio Assis 2006 Brazil Blanca Alejo Crisóstomo 2006 Guatemala Cochochi Laura Amelia Guzmán and Israel Cárdenas 2007 Mexico Cuando Me Toque A Mi When I Touch Me Víctor Arregui 2008 Ecuador Desde Lejos From Afar Alejandro Fernandez Almendras 2006 Chile El Amarillo The Yellow Sergio Martín Mazza 2006 Argentina El Camino The Way Ishtar Yasin 2008 Costa Rica El Cielo, La Tierra Y La Lluvia Heaven, Earth and Rain José Luis Torres Leiva 2008 Chile El Cuarto Del Fondo The Bottom Room Ana Guevara and Leticia Jorge 2007 Uruguay El Árbol The Tree Gustavo Fontan 2007 Argentina Ellas Se Aman They Love Each Other Laura Astorga 2008 Costa Rica En La Barra Hay Un Cerebro In the Bar There is a Brain Oscar Ruiz Navia 2005 Colombia En La Cama In Bed Matías Bize 2005 Chile Familia Tortuga Tortuga Family Ruben Imaz Castro 2006 Mexico I Love Pinochet Marcela Said Cares 2001 Spain Interior Bajo Izquierda Interior under Left Daniel Vega Vidal, Diego Vega Vidal 2008 Peru Jogo De Cena Playing Eduardo Coutinho 2008 Brazil La Sombra Del Caminante The Shadow of the Walker Ciro Guerra 2005 Colombia Lo Más Bonito Y Mis Mejores Años The Most Beautiful and My Best Years Martin Boulocq 2005 Bolivia Lo Que Trae La Lluvia What Brings the Rain Alejandro Fernandez Almendras 2007 Chile Madeinusa Claudia Llosa 2006 Spain Postales De Leningrado Postcards from Leningrad Mariana Rondón 2007 Venezuela Qak'Aslemal Hcklemal Alejo Crisóstomo 2007 Guatemala Santiago João Salles 2006 Brazil Stranded, I'Ve Come From A Plane That Crashed On The Mountains... Gonzalo Arijon 2007 France Temporal Paz Fabrega 2006 Costa Rica Wadley Matias Meyer 2008 Mexico
Here And Away (Ici et Ailleurs) Original Title English Title Director(s) Year Production Country Bambini In Città Children in the City Luigi Comencini 1946 Italy Beautiful Losers Joshua Leonard, Aaron Rose 2008 USA Cimap! Cento Italiani Matti A Pechino Cimap! One Hundred Italians Crazy in Beijing Giovanni Piperno 2008 Italy Comment Albert Vit Bouger Les Montagnes How Albert Saw the Mountains Move Harold Vasselin 2008 France Das Herz Von Jenin The Heart of Jenin Leon Geller, Marcus Vetter 2008 Germany Diario Di Una Schizofrenica Diary of a Schizophrenic Girl Nelo Risi 1968 Italy El Somni The Dream Christophe Farnarier 2008 Spain Freddy Buache, Passeur Du 7Ème Art Freddy Buache, 7th Art Passer Michel Van Zele 2007 France Gasolina Gasoline Julio Hernández Cordón 2008 Guatemala Gegege No Kitaro Sennen Noroi Uta Gegege No Kitaro 1,000 Yen Curse Song Katsuhide Motoki 2008 Japan Gegege No Kitaro Greege's Kitaro Katsuhide Motoki 2007 Japan Gegege No Kitaro Greege's Kitaro Yukio Kaizawa 2007 Japan Hakaba Kitaro Hakaaba Kitaro Masatoshi Chioka 2007 Japan Il Sol Dell'Avvenire Tomorrow's Sun Gianfranco Pannone 2008 Italy Kumo To Tulip Catholics Kenzō Masaoka 1943 Japan L'Idiot The Idiot Pierre Léon 2008 France Luftbusiness Airbusiness Dominique De Rivaz 2008 Switzerland Momotaro, Umi No Shinpei Momotaro, Sea New Soldiers Mitsuyo Seo 1945 Japan Muallaf Yasmin Ahmad 2008 Malaysia Non Chiederci La Parola Don't Ask Us the Word Elisabetta Sgarbi 2008 Italy Parafernalia Paraphernalia Massimo Coppola, Giovanni Giommi 2008 Italy Pelléas Et Mélisande, Le Chant Des Aveugles Pelléas and Mélisande, the Song of the Blind Philippe Béziat 2008 France Petites Historias Das Crianças Children's Histories Petites Guido Lazzarini, Gabriele Salvatores, Fabio Scamoni 2008 Italy Possibili Rapporti. Due Poeti, Due Voci Possible Relationships. Two Poets, Two Voices Nelo Risi 2008 Italy Preparativi Di Fuga Escape Preparations Tommaso Cotronei 2008 Italy Rata Nece Biti (Non Ci Sara' La Guerra) Rata Nece Biti (There will be No War) Daniele Gaglianone 2008 Italy Servicios Prestados Services Provided Diego Lerman 2008 Argentina Sognavo Le Nuvole Colorate I Dreamed of the Colored Clouds Mario Balsamo 2008 Italy Stolperstein Stumbling Block Dörte Franke 2007 Germany Strade Trasparenti Transparent Roads Augusto Contento 2008 France Umarete Wa Mita Keredo I Saw the Japanese when I Was Born, but Yasujirō Ozu 1932 Japan Un Petit Coin De Paradis A Little Corner of Paradise Jacqueline Veuve 2008 Switzerland Und Das Am Montagmorgen And that on Monday Morning Luigi Comencini 1959 Germany
Here And Away - Borders of Europe: Six Films by Corso Salani Original Title English Title Director(s) Year Production Country Confini D'Europa # 1 - Ceuta E Gibilterra Borders of Europe # 1 - Ceuta and Gibraltar Corso Salani 2006 Italy Confini D'Europa # 2 - Rio De Onor Borders of Europe # 2 - Rio De Onor Corso Salani 2006 Italy Confini D'Europa # 3 - Imatra. Versione Integrale Borders of Europe # 3 - Imatra. Full Version Corso Salani 2007 Italy Confini D'Europa # 4 - Talsi Borders of Europe # 4 - Tali Corso Salani 2007 Italy Confini D'Europa # 5 - Chisinau Borders of Europe # 5 - Chisinau Corso Salani 2007 Italy Confini D'Europa # 6 - Yotvata Borders of Europe # 6 - YOTTAVA Corso Salani 2007 Italy
Here And Away - Jeonju Digital Project 2008 Original Title English Title Director(s) Year Production Country Expectations Mahamat-Saleh Haroun 2008 South Korea The Alphabet Of My Mother Nacer Khemir 2008 South Korea The Birthday Idrissa Ouédraogo 2008 South Korea
Here And Away - Special Program Original Title English Title Director(s) Year Production Country Blackbox3 The Film Patricia Boillat, Elena Gugliuzza 2008 Switzerland Quattro Giorni Con Vivian Four Days with Vivian Silvio Soldini 2008 Italy
Here And Away / Leopards of Domani - Author's Short Films (Corti D'autore) Original Title English Title Director(s) Year Production Country Akmeni Stone Laila Pakalniņa 2008 Latvia Balastiera#186 Ballast # 186 George Chiper, Adina Pintilie 2007 Romania Basette Base Gabriele Mainetti 2008 Italy Elso Szerelem First Love Ildikó Enyedi 2008 Haiti Monsieur Sélavy - The Way It Is Peter Volkart 2008 Switzerland
Leopards of Tomorrow Leopards of Tomorrow (Pardi di Domani)
Special Program