Locarno Film Festival Chief Talks Lineup’s Political Themes: ‘You Don’t Make Revolutions With Films,’ but ‘You Can Address Things That Don’t Work’
variety.comNick Vivarelli International Correspondent For his third edition at the helm, Locarno Film Festival artistic director Giona A.
Nazzaro has assembled a wide spectrum of films that “do not resemble each other in terms of tone or form” while reflecting “the world in all its expressions and manifestations,” he tells Variety.
This boundless range is best exemplified by the fact that starkly surrealist Filipino arthouse star Lav Díaz’s latest work, “Essential Truths of the Lake,” will be vying for the fest’s Golden Leopard alongside fare that, at least on paper, appears much lighter.
This includes U.S. director Bob Byington’s indie comedy “Lousy Carter” and Estonian helmer Rainer Sarnet’s “The Invisible Flight,” which Nazzaro says “mixes Kung Fu, hard rock and the Orthodox Church.” There are also lots of titles at Locarno that can broadly be described as “political,” like Ukrainian director Maryna Vroda’s “Stepne” — which marks a rare case of a new film from war-torn Ukraine — and the fest’s closer, Iranian-Australian director Noora Niasari’s debut film “Shayda,” which will be making its European bow with star Zar Amir Ebrahimi and executive producer Cate Blanchett in tow.
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