Yesterday evening at the Piazza Grande, the 63rd edition of the Festival del Film Locarno was officially opened. After a few welcoming words in Italian, French, German and English by Locarno’s elegant mayor Carla Spezzali, the festivals president Marco Solari introduced the new artistic director of the festival, Olivier Père. The young and dynamic Père emphasized that also this edition of the festival is concentrating on young directors, with twenty first films being shown. But, he continued, the festival is always equally welcoming the more established film directors. Benoit Jacquot, the French director of the opening film Au fond des bois is one of them.
Benoit Jacquot and the Argentinian actor Nahuel Perez Biscayart, the lead in Au fond des bois, justifiably admit that a world premiere at the Piazza Grande in front of an audience of 8,000 people is very intimidating. But then again, the Piazza Grande must be one of the most spectacular venues for showing a movie. The setting is impressive, with one of the biggest open-air screens in Europe, watching a movie with 8,000 viewers on an old piazza with the Swiss Alps in the background is quite an experience. Right before the opening speeches, portraits of directors are projected to the old buildings surrounding the piazza. We see Lubitsch, Haneke, Godard and many other legendary directors. When the opening speeches are being held, leopard motifs (the leopard is the symbol of the festival) are projected to the same buildings. It is a grand setting, but the atmosfere is very intimate and very exciting.
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