Locarno Film Festival

History

The Locarno Film Festival was established by the tourist office Pro Locarno and several professionals from the movie industry. As stated by cinema historians, it emerged as a 'grassroots celebration' and mostly oriented on attracting tourists to Locarno, offering various entertainment events such as fashion shows and excursions.

The inaugural evening took place on 23 August 1946, at the Grand Hotel of Locarno with the screening of the movie O sole mio directed by Giacomo Gentilomo. The first edition was organized in less than three months with a line-up of fifteen movies, mainly American and Italian, among which was Rome, Open City directed by Roberto Rossellini, And Then There Were None directed by René Clair (1945), Double Indemnity by Billy Wilder (1944) and The Song of Bernadette by Henry King (1943).

Until the mid-1950s, LFF was allowed to screen only the movies that were commercially distributed in Switzerland. The authorities considered LLF to be a private event and did not support it financially, which is why the festival experienced constant difficulties. The 1951 edition was cancelled due to a lack of funding. In 1953, LFF was downgraded to the D rank in FIAPF classification. In response to such a loss of prestige, in 1954 the government acknowledged LFF as an event of national significance which allowed the festival to send invitations to film-producing countries via diplomatic channels and thus Swiss distributors could finally import movies out of their annual quota specifically for the festival.

Under Vinicio Beretta, LFF opened up to national cinematographies, especially those of Eastern Europe. Since 1953, every year the festival has screened features from Eastern Germany, the USSR, etc. Managed mostly by the Pro Locarno tourists office, it strived to offer the visitors an extraordinary entertainment and stood out as an international meeting point in a neutral country. The critics, however, accused the event of communist propaganda, as the anthems of socialist countries were played before the screenings of their films and their flags raised during the ceremony. The accusations made the Swiss intelligence services closely monitor the festival, while the officials insisted on lesser selection of features from the Eastern bloc.

In 1956, a commercial dispute between Swiss distributors and foreign producers amidst heavy political tension in connection to the repression of the 1956 Budapest insurrection led to cancellation of the 1956 LFF edition. This caused the Swiss authorities to ask the FIAPF to cease attacks on LFF. In 1959, the festival accessed the A-rank. It shifted to July, to higher tourist season, and introduced retrospectives in collaboration with the Cinemathèque suisse.

Official awards and sections

Audience awards

Prix du public, presented in partnership with UBS, Piazza Grande section films compete by audience vote.

Main Competition

Golden Leopard (since 1946), the festival's main prize;

Special Jury Prize (since 1949);

Pardo for Best Direction (since 1946);

Pardo for Best Performance (since 2023);

Leopard for Best Actress

Leopard for Best Actor

First Feature Competition

First Feature Award, awarded by a jury of international critics to the first feature film presented in any festival's sections.

Filmmakers of the Present

Golden Leopard - Filmmakers of the Present, prize awarded to the best film of the section, which is dedicated to first or second features.

Ciné+ Special Jury Prize, French television channel Ciné+ Club offers the broadcast rights to the winning film.

Leopard for Best New Director

Leopards of Tomorrow

Pardino d'oro for the Best International Short Film, awarded to the best short film in the international short film competition;

Pardino d'oro for the Best Swiss Short Film, awarded to the best short film in the national short film competition;

Pardino d'argento for the international competition, awarded to the second best film in the international competition;

Pardino d'argento Swiss Life for the national competition, awarded to the second best film in the national competition;

Locarno short film nominee for the European Film Awards, awarded an automatic nomination in the short film category of the European Film Awards;

Prize for Best Swiss Newcomer;

Premio Medien Patent Verwaltung AG.

Pardo Verde Competition

Green Pardo WWF In collaboration with WWF, the Green Pardo WWF is the prize that aims to find the film which best reflects the environmental theme in any of the Festival's competition sections. The award constitutes a Green statue and SFr 20,000 to the director.

Independent sections

There are also two sections for independent films:

Critics' Week (Semaine de la Critique), at which selected international films are screened;

Swiss Panorama (Panorama Suisse), in which "Swiss films that have enjoyed success at festivals, found an audience in cinemas, or are currently released in the country" are screened

Direction and management

Artistic directors

1946–1958: Riccardo Bolla

1960–1965: Vinicio Beretta

1966: Sandro Bianconi

1967–1970: Sandro Bianconi, Freddy Buache

1971: Commission of direction, composed of seven members from Ticino

1972–1977: Moritz de Hadeln

1978–1981: Jean-Pierre Brossard

1982–1991: David Streiff

1992–2000: Marco Müller

2000–2005: Irene Bignardi

2005–2009: Frédéric Maire

2010–2012: Olivier Père

2012–2018: Carlo Chatrian

2018–2020: Lili Hinstin

2020: Nadia Dresti (interim)

2021– present: Giona A. Nazzaro

Presidents

1946–1955: Camillo Beretta

1957–1962: Enrico Franzioni

1963–1968: Fernando Gaja

1970–1980: Luciano Giudici

1981–1999: Raimondo Rezzonico

2000–2023: Marco Solari

2023– present: Maja Hoffmann

Chief operating officers

2006–2013: Marco Cacciamognaga

2013–2017: Mario Timbal

2017– present: Raphaël Brunschwig (Managing Director since 2022)