“Prince Aden,” a new drama by Italian directing duo Gianluca and Massimiliano De Serio, known internationally for their immigration-themed “Seven Acts of Mercy,” is among projects selected by Locarno’s Alliance for Development initiative.
The platform, now in its 8th year, is geared towards fostering co-productions between France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland.
Inspired by the book “Partigiani d’Oltremare,” by Italian historian Matteo Petracci, the De Serio twins’ new colonial-era film follows the vicissitudes of a 16-year-old Somali named Aden Sicré who in 1935 becomes a soldier in the Italian army that invaded Ethiopia on Mussolini’s orders. In an unexpected turn, he becomes hailed as a war hero by the Fascist regime. Then a few years later Aden and other African fighters play a pivotal role in the partisan struggle against fascism in Europe.
The Aug. 4-6 Alliance 4 Development goes beyond being a mere co-production platform since it allows for...
The platform, now in its 8th year, is geared towards fostering co-productions between France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland.
Inspired by the book “Partigiani d’Oltremare,” by Italian historian Matteo Petracci, the De Serio twins’ new colonial-era film follows the vicissitudes of a 16-year-old Somali named Aden Sicré who in 1935 becomes a soldier in the Italian army that invaded Ethiopia on Mussolini’s orders. In an unexpected turn, he becomes hailed as a war hero by the Fascist regime. Then a few years later Aden and other African fighters play a pivotal role in the partisan struggle against fascism in Europe.
The Aug. 4-6 Alliance 4 Development goes beyond being a mere co-production platform since it allows for...
- 6/22/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Includes projects by Lorenz Merz, Ann Oren and Sara Fattahi.
New projects by directors Lorenz Merz, Ann Oren and Sara Fattahi are among those selected for Locarno Pro’s Alliance 4 Development initiative which runs from August 4-6.
The initiative is an integral part of Locarno Film Festival’s Locarno Pro industry strand and is aimed at encouraging co-productions between Switzerland and France, Germany and Italy.
Scroll down for full list of projects
11 projects were chosen out of 74 submissions. During the three Alliance 4 Development programme, participants will meet with potential partners and attend panels and networking events.
Lorenz Merz will attend with Who/Man,...
New projects by directors Lorenz Merz, Ann Oren and Sara Fattahi are among those selected for Locarno Pro’s Alliance 4 Development initiative which runs from August 4-6.
The initiative is an integral part of Locarno Film Festival’s Locarno Pro industry strand and is aimed at encouraging co-productions between Switzerland and France, Germany and Italy.
Scroll down for full list of projects
11 projects were chosen out of 74 submissions. During the three Alliance 4 Development programme, participants will meet with potential partners and attend panels and networking events.
Lorenz Merz will attend with Who/Man,...
- 6/22/2023
- by Tim Dams
- ScreenDaily
11 projects selected for Locarno Film Festival’s industry strand.
New projects by directors Lorenz Merz, Ann Oren and Sara Fattahi are among those selected for Locarno Pro’s Alliance 4 Development initiative which runs from August 4-6.
The initiative is an integral part of Locarno Film Festival’s Locarno Pro industry strand and is aimed at encouraging co-productions between Switzerland and France, Germany and Italy.
Scroll down for full list of projects
11 projects were chosen out of 74 submissions. During the three Alliance 4 Development programme, participants will meet with potential partners and attend panels and networking events.
Lorenz Merz will attend with Who/Man,...
New projects by directors Lorenz Merz, Ann Oren and Sara Fattahi are among those selected for Locarno Pro’s Alliance 4 Development initiative which runs from August 4-6.
The initiative is an integral part of Locarno Film Festival’s Locarno Pro industry strand and is aimed at encouraging co-productions between Switzerland and France, Germany and Italy.
Scroll down for full list of projects
11 projects were chosen out of 74 submissions. During the three Alliance 4 Development programme, participants will meet with potential partners and attend panels and networking events.
Lorenz Merz will attend with Who/Man,...
- 6/22/2023
- by Tim Dams
- ScreenDaily
Zurich native Caterina Mona will bring her directorial debut “Semret” to the 75th Locarno Film Festival where it screens at the city’s Piazza Grande, an outdoor venue traditionally reserved for more popular plays. The film, which is being sold by German sales outfit Pluto Film, follows the difficult path to healing for the titular character of Semret: a reclusive immigrant mother from Eritrea, now living and working in Zurich. Between her difficulties with her daughter’s coming-of-age and her challenging career at a hospital, Semret must take down her walls in order to let others in.
“Semret” stars British newcomer Lula Mebrahtu (alongside Tedros Teclebrhan and Hermela Tekleab), whose understated physicality in the role of Semret expertly belies the violence of the character’s trauma as Semret moves through scenes with a palpable past. The dialogue in “Semret” bounces between Swiss-German and Tigrinya, continuing a trend toward multilingual European co-productions.
“Semret” stars British newcomer Lula Mebrahtu (alongside Tedros Teclebrhan and Hermela Tekleab), whose understated physicality in the role of Semret expertly belies the violence of the character’s trauma as Semret moves through scenes with a palpable past. The dialogue in “Semret” bounces between Swiss-German and Tigrinya, continuing a trend toward multilingual European co-productions.
- 8/9/2022
- by JD Linville
- Variety Film + TV
Berlin-based sales agent Pluto Film has acquired Michal Blaško’s suspense drama “Victim,” about a woman seeking justice in a racist society, ahead of its world premiere in Venice’s competitive Horizons strand.
The Slovak-Czech-German coproduction tells the story of Irina (Vita Smachelyuk), a single mother from Ukraine living in a town in the Czech Republic. When her son Igor (Gleb Kuchuk) is attacked, the whole town stands in solidarity with her family and condemns their Roma neighbors, who allegedly committed the crime. After her son wakes up in hospital, truth and lies become difficult to tell apart, which in turn leads to a personal crisis.
Blaško states: “’Victim’ tells a story about trust between Irina and Igor, a mother and son living in a foreign country, where they are left to their own devices. My aim was to paint an emotional portrait of Irina and use it to expose...
The Slovak-Czech-German coproduction tells the story of Irina (Vita Smachelyuk), a single mother from Ukraine living in a town in the Czech Republic. When her son Igor (Gleb Kuchuk) is attacked, the whole town stands in solidarity with her family and condemns their Roma neighbors, who allegedly committed the crime. After her son wakes up in hospital, truth and lies become difficult to tell apart, which in turn leads to a personal crisis.
Blaško states: “’Victim’ tells a story about trust between Irina and Igor, a mother and son living in a foreign country, where they are left to their own devices. My aim was to paint an emotional portrait of Irina and use it to expose...
- 7/26/2022
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Medusa Deluxe (Thomas Hardiman).The lineup for the 75th-anniversary edition of the festival has been announced, including new films by Helena Wittmann, João Pedro Rodrígues, Aleksandr Sokurov and others, alongside retrospectives, tributes, and much more.Piazza GRANDEAlles über Martin Suter. Ausser die Wahrheit. (Everything About Martin Suter. Everything but the Truth.) (André Schäfer)Annie Colère (Blandine Lenoir)Bullet Train (David Leitch)Compartiment tueurs (The Sleeping Car Murder) (Costa-Gavras)Delta (Michele Vannucci)Home of the Brave (Laurie Anderson)Imitation of Life (Douglas Sirk)Last Dance (Delphine Lehericey)Medusa Deluxe (Thomas Hardiman)My Neighbor Adolf (Leon Prudovsky)Paradise Highway (Anna Gutto)Piano Piano (Nicola Prosatore)Printed Rainbow (Gitanjali Rao)Semret (Caterina Mona)Une femme de notre temps (Jean Paul Civeyrac)Vous n'aurez pas ma haine (You Will Not Have My Hate) (Kilian Riedhof)Where the Crawdads Sing (Olivia Newman)Human Flowers of Flesh (Helena Wittmann).Concorso INTERNAZIONALEAriyippu (Declaration) (Mahesh Narayanan)Balıqlara xütbə...
- 7/13/2022
- MUBI
German sales company Pluto Film has taken world sales outside Switzerland on Swiss director Caterina Mona’s timely immigration-themed drama “Semret” ahead of its world premiere in the Locarno Film Festival’s Piazza Grande section.
The titular character of the film, of which Variety is launching the trailer (watch above), is an Eritrean single mother living in Zurich who works in a hospital while studying to be a midwife. Semret becomes pressured by her teenage daughter, named Joe, to learn more about her origins, which is a taboo subject. But in order not to lose all that she loves, she is forced to confront her wartime past and the sheltered life she has built for herself in Switzerland.
“Semret is first and foremost a film about a mother and a daughter,” the director said in her production notes. “The daughter’s emancipation causes changes in the mother,” she added, noting...
The titular character of the film, of which Variety is launching the trailer (watch above), is an Eritrean single mother living in Zurich who works in a hospital while studying to be a midwife. Semret becomes pressured by her teenage daughter, named Joe, to learn more about her origins, which is a taboo subject. But in order not to lose all that she loves, she is forced to confront her wartime past and the sheltered life she has built for herself in Switzerland.
“Semret is first and foremost a film about a mother and a daughter,” the director said in her production notes. “The daughter’s emancipation causes changes in the mother,” she added, noting...
- 7/12/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Ten world premieres among 17 international competition titles.
The Locarno Film Festival (August 3-13) has revealed the line-up for its 75th edition, which includes the world premiere of Russian filmmaker Aleksandr Sokurov’s Fairytale.
The international competition will comprise 17 films, including 10 world premieres, which will vie for the coveted Golden Leopard awards.
Scroll down for full line-up
These titles include Fairytale, a Belgium-Russia co-production written and directed by Sokurov, whose films have played in Competition at Cannes five times with features including Russian Ark in 2002. His debut The Lonely Voice Of a Man received the Bronze Leopard in Locarno in 1987.
The...
The Locarno Film Festival (August 3-13) has revealed the line-up for its 75th edition, which includes the world premiere of Russian filmmaker Aleksandr Sokurov’s Fairytale.
The international competition will comprise 17 films, including 10 world premieres, which will vie for the coveted Golden Leopard awards.
Scroll down for full line-up
These titles include Fairytale, a Belgium-Russia co-production written and directed by Sokurov, whose films have played in Competition at Cannes five times with features including Russian Ark in 2002. His debut The Lonely Voice Of a Man received the Bronze Leopard in Locarno in 1987.
The...
- 7/6/2022
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Returning for its milestone 75th edition, Locarno Film Festival has now unveiled its full lineup. Taking place from August 3 through 13th, the selection includes Helena Wittmann’s Human Flowers of Flesh, Jean-Paul Civeyrac’s Une femme de notre temps, Aleksandr Sokurov’s Fairytale, Patricia Mazuy’s Bowling Saturne, Abbas Fahdel’s Tales of the Purple House, Ana Vaz’s It Is Night In America, Leon Prudovsky’s My Neighbor Adolf, a massive Douglas Sirk retrospective, and much more.
“The selection of films that we have put together, after watching and appraising over 3,000 titles (of every length and format), is intended to be the mark of a time and of a cinema in motion,” Artistic Director Giona A. Nazzaro said. “A historic time that is moving in multiple directions simultaneously, and a cinema that is probing the issues facing the world, and how to live in it re- sponsibly, sustainably. The...
“The selection of films that we have put together, after watching and appraising over 3,000 titles (of every length and format), is intended to be the mark of a time and of a cinema in motion,” Artistic Director Giona A. Nazzaro said. “A historic time that is moving in multiple directions simultaneously, and a cinema that is probing the issues facing the world, and how to live in it re- sponsibly, sustainably. The...
- 7/6/2022
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
The Locarno Film Festival has announced the full line-up and juries for its 75th edition, which is due to unfold August 3-13.
The festival will get a starry kick-off on August 3 with the international festival premiere of David Leitch’s action-comedy Bullet Train, starring Brad Pitt alongside an ensemble cast featuring Joey King, Michael Shannon, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry, Sandra Bullock, Hiroyuki Sanada, Andrew Koji and Benito A Martínez Ocasio.
The film will be given a gala screening in the festival’s trademark 8,000-seat, open-air Piazza Grande arena.
Other titles due to get a splash on the Piazza Grande include Laurie Anderson’s Home Of The Brave, U.K. director Thomas Hardiman’s Medusa Deluxe and German director Kilian Riedhof’s French-language drama You Will Not Have My Hate, based on the memoir of a man on how he and his son coped following the death of his wife in the 2015 Bataclan terror attack.
The festival will get a starry kick-off on August 3 with the international festival premiere of David Leitch’s action-comedy Bullet Train, starring Brad Pitt alongside an ensemble cast featuring Joey King, Michael Shannon, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry, Sandra Bullock, Hiroyuki Sanada, Andrew Koji and Benito A Martínez Ocasio.
The film will be given a gala screening in the festival’s trademark 8,000-seat, open-air Piazza Grande arena.
Other titles due to get a splash on the Piazza Grande include Laurie Anderson’s Home Of The Brave, U.K. director Thomas Hardiman’s Medusa Deluxe and German director Kilian Riedhof’s French-language drama You Will Not Have My Hate, based on the memoir of a man on how he and his son coped following the death of his wife in the 2015 Bataclan terror attack.
- 7/6/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Switzerland’s Locarno Film Festival has revealed the lineup for its 75th edition, sticking to its promise of discovering new talent.
A slew of debuting filmmakers will showcase their works, from Italy’s Nicola Prosatore with “Piano Piano” to Caterina Mona, focusing in “Semret” on an Eritrean single mother working at a Zurich hospital and dreaming of becoming a midwife.
Thomas Hardiman’s U.K.’s proposition “Medusa Deluxe,” a murder mystery set in a competitive hairdressing competition — boarded by New Europe Film Sales — is also bound to generate some excitement.
“‘Medusa Deluxe’ is one of the coolest debuts of the year,” the company’s CEO Jan Naszewski enthused to Variety.
“I’m sure it will rock the Piazza Grande and give the festival a great spark.”
But Locarno will also bring in heavyweights, starting with a screening of the much-anticipated Brad Pitt vehicle “Bullet Train,” directed by “Atomic Blond” helmer David Leitch,...
A slew of debuting filmmakers will showcase their works, from Italy’s Nicola Prosatore with “Piano Piano” to Caterina Mona, focusing in “Semret” on an Eritrean single mother working at a Zurich hospital and dreaming of becoming a midwife.
Thomas Hardiman’s U.K.’s proposition “Medusa Deluxe,” a murder mystery set in a competitive hairdressing competition — boarded by New Europe Film Sales — is also bound to generate some excitement.
“‘Medusa Deluxe’ is one of the coolest debuts of the year,” the company’s CEO Jan Naszewski enthused to Variety.
“I’m sure it will rock the Piazza Grande and give the festival a great spark.”
But Locarno will also bring in heavyweights, starting with a screening of the much-anticipated Brad Pitt vehicle “Bullet Train,” directed by “Atomic Blond” helmer David Leitch,...
- 7/6/2022
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
The Locarno Film Festival has unveiled the lineup for its 2022 edition, to be held from Aug. 3-13.
And the Swiss festival will be hoping Brad Pitt will be kicking some butt when Locarno gives an international festival premiere to Sony’s upcoming Bullet Train. The action thriller, set to hit theaters Aug. 5, comes from the director of Deadpool 2, David Leitch, and has an ensemble cast that includes Joey King, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry, Andrew Koji, Hiroyuki Sanada, Michael Shannon and Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio.
Locarno also booked world premieres for the Sophie Marceau starrer Une Femme de Notre Temps, by director Jean Paul Civeyrac; Leon Prudovsky’s My Neighbor Adolf; John Swab’s horror thriller Candy Land; Blandine Lenoir’s Annie Colere; and Delta, by director Michele Vannucci. Debut features bowing at Locarno include Jeff Rutherford’s A Perfect Day for...
The Locarno Film Festival has unveiled the lineup for its 2022 edition, to be held from Aug. 3-13.
And the Swiss festival will be hoping Brad Pitt will be kicking some butt when Locarno gives an international festival premiere to Sony’s upcoming Bullet Train. The action thriller, set to hit theaters Aug. 5, comes from the director of Deadpool 2, David Leitch, and has an ensemble cast that includes Joey King, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry, Andrew Koji, Hiroyuki Sanada, Michael Shannon and Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio.
Locarno also booked world premieres for the Sophie Marceau starrer Une Femme de Notre Temps, by director Jean Paul Civeyrac; Leon Prudovsky’s My Neighbor Adolf; John Swab’s horror thriller Candy Land; Blandine Lenoir’s Annie Colere; and Delta, by director Michele Vannucci. Debut features bowing at Locarno include Jeff Rutherford’s A Perfect Day for...
- 7/6/2022
- by Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Sales
Abacus Media Rights has sold documentary “The Beatles and India” to HBO Max for Latin America, BritBox North America for the U.S. and Canada, Channel 4 for the U.K., Foxtel for Australia, Channel One for Russia, and A Contracorriente Films for Spain, with more deals in the pipeline.
Inspired by Ajoy Bose’s “book Across The Universe – The Beatles in India,” the film marks Bose’s directorial debut, is co-directed by Peter Compton and is produced by Reynold D’Silva, CEO of Silva Screen Music Group.
Abacus MD Jonathan Ford said: “Using rare archival footage, an array of unseen recordings and photographs, eye-witness accounts and stunning location shoots across India, ‘The Beatles and India’ energetically reveals a fascinating journey which was to have a profound impact on The Beatles’ spiritual lives and their music.”
“The universal appeal of the subject has been one of our main aims in...
Abacus Media Rights has sold documentary “The Beatles and India” to HBO Max for Latin America, BritBox North America for the U.S. and Canada, Channel 4 for the U.K., Foxtel for Australia, Channel One for Russia, and A Contracorriente Films for Spain, with more deals in the pipeline.
Inspired by Ajoy Bose’s “book Across The Universe – The Beatles in India,” the film marks Bose’s directorial debut, is co-directed by Peter Compton and is produced by Reynold D’Silva, CEO of Silva Screen Music Group.
Abacus MD Jonathan Ford said: “Using rare archival footage, an array of unseen recordings and photographs, eye-witness accounts and stunning location shoots across India, ‘The Beatles and India’ energetically reveals a fascinating journey which was to have a profound impact on The Beatles’ spiritual lives and their music.”
“The universal appeal of the subject has been one of our main aims in...
- 9/21/2021
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Valentin Merz’s “De Noche los Gatos Son Pardos” scooped the biggest prize, the Cinegrell First Look Award, at this year’s Locarno Festival First Look pix-in-post competition, one of its industry centerpieces.
Now in its tenth edition, First Look’s focus this year was Switzerland with a jury and industry audience given the chance to preview six upcoming Swiss feature films at various stages of rough or final cut.
The Cinegrell First Look Award consists in SFr 50,000 of post-production services from Cinegrell, a Zurich-based services and restoration company.
Merz’s second feature, after the time and character-hopping “A Vulgar Adventure,” “De Noche” turns on Valentin, a film director, who disappears half way through shooting a libertine costume drama in wooded hills. Robin, its Dp and Valentin’s lover, travels to the shores of Mexico’s Pacific Ocean, fulfilling a promise he once made to Valentin.
Produced by Marie Lanne-Chesnot and Merz at Andrea Film,...
Now in its tenth edition, First Look’s focus this year was Switzerland with a jury and industry audience given the chance to preview six upcoming Swiss feature films at various stages of rough or final cut.
The Cinegrell First Look Award consists in SFr 50,000 of post-production services from Cinegrell, a Zurich-based services and restoration company.
Merz’s second feature, after the time and character-hopping “A Vulgar Adventure,” “De Noche” turns on Valentin, a film director, who disappears half way through shooting a libertine costume drama in wooded hills. Robin, its Dp and Valentin’s lover, travels to the shores of Mexico’s Pacific Ocean, fulfilling a promise he once made to Valentin.
Produced by Marie Lanne-Chesnot and Merz at Andrea Film,...
- 8/8/2021
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Sabine Gisiger’s “The Mies van der Rohes,” Steven Vit’s “My Old Man” and Caterina Mona’s “Semret” feature in this year’s pix-in-post showcase First Look, one of the industry highlights of the Locarno Film Festival, which focuses for the first time on movies from Switzerland.
The films are joined in First Look by Valentin Merz’s “De Noche los Gatos Son Pardos,” Leon Schwitter’s “Reduit” and Jackie Brutsche’s “Las Toreras” in a six-title spread which works as a predominantly new Swiss talent showcase.
Four of the six movies are first features, another a second; only Gisiger has a directorial career that stretches back several decades.
Presented by established production houses or producers such as Zurich’s Dschoint Ventschr Filmproduktion and Ticino’s Michele Pini, the titles also drill down, often in a highly personal fashion – two of the titles are autobiographical doc features – on questions...
The films are joined in First Look by Valentin Merz’s “De Noche los Gatos Son Pardos,” Leon Schwitter’s “Reduit” and Jackie Brutsche’s “Las Toreras” in a six-title spread which works as a predominantly new Swiss talent showcase.
Four of the six movies are first features, another a second; only Gisiger has a directorial career that stretches back several decades.
Presented by established production houses or producers such as Zurich’s Dschoint Ventschr Filmproduktion and Ticino’s Michele Pini, the titles also drill down, often in a highly personal fashion – two of the titles are autobiographical doc features – on questions...
- 7/27/2021
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Hong Sang-soo's Right Now, Wrong Then.The lineup for the 2015 festival has been revealed, including new films by Hong Sang-soo, Andrzej Zulawski, Chantal Akerman, Athina Rachel Tsangari, and others, alongside retrospectives and tributes dedicated to Sam Peckinpah, Michael Cimino, Bulle Ogier, and much more.Piazza GRANDERicki and the Flash (Jonathan Demme, USA)La belle saison (Catherine Corsini, France)Le dernier passage (Pascal Magontier, France)Der staat gegen Fritz Bauer (Lars Kraume, Germany)Southpaw (Antoine Fuqua, USA)Trainwreck (Judd Apatow, USA)Jack (Elisabeth Scharang, Austria)Floride (Philippe Le Guay, France)The Deer Hunter (Michael Cimino, UK/USA)Erlkönig (Georges Schwizgebel, Switzerland)Guibord s'en va-t-en guerre (Philippe Falardeau, Canada)Bombay Velvet (Anurag Kashyap, India)Pastorale cilentana (Mario Martone, Italy)La vanite (Lionel Baier, Switzerland/France)The Laundryman (Lee Chung, Taiwan)Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, USA) I pugni ni tasca (Marco Bellocchio, Italy)Heliopolis (Sérgio Machado, Brazil)Amnesia (Barbet Schroeder,...
- 7/20/2015
- by Notebook
- MUBI
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