The 41st Locarno Film Festival was held from 4 to 14 August 1988 in Locarno, Switzerland. Over 150 films were shown at the festival, with 18 in competition, 18 out-of-competition, and the rest were split between various sections, including a retrospective of Alberto Cavalcanti and a national section dedicated to British cinema.
The opening film was also a British film A World Apart directed by Chris Menges. However, the British Embassy refused to hold its reception on the same day as they did not want to be connected to a film that dealt with anti-apartheid activism. Festival director David Strieff described the position of the British Embassy as "outrageous".
The television movie section was merged with the main program as David Strieff said the distinction between TV and theatrical movie was no longer relevant for the festival. The Piazza Grande, the open-air theater, was only rained on for one night, but it forced director Nikos Panayotopoulos's highly anticipated film, The Woman Who Dreamed (I Yineka Pou Evlepe Ta Onira), to an indoor screening.
The festival closing ceremony was briefly interrupted by Swiss anti-apartheid activists protesting Swiss Bank Union (UBS), a festival sponsor, for doing business with apartheid South Africa.
The Golden Leopard, the festival's top prize, was awarded to two film this year: Schmetterlinge directed by Wolfgang Becker, and Distant Voices, Still Lives directed by Terence Davies.
Juries International Jury – Main Competition Gian Luigi Rondi, Jury chair, Italian screenwriter and former Venice Festival Festival Head Jose Alvaro Morais, Portuguese director Jean Rouch, French director and anthropologist Luc Bondy, Swiss film and theater director Maria Rita Galvao, Sao Palo Cinematique director Milva, Italian actress Thomas Hurlimann, Swiss writer Dimitri, Italian Mime Federico Jolli, last minute juror, film journalist and member of Locarno commission
Official Sections 1988
The following films were screened in these sections: International Competition
Feature Films Original Title English Title Director(s) Year Production Country 36 Fillette Junior Size 36 Catherine Breillat 1988 France Distant Voices, Still Lives Terence Davies 1988 Great Britain Domani Accadrà It's Happening Tomorrow Daniele Luchetti 1988 Italia Dzusovy Roman A Juicy Novel Fero Fenic 1984 Czech Republic Eden Miseria Christine Laurent 1988 France Filou Takehiro Nakajima 1988 Switzerland GostVisitor Alexandre Kaïdanovski 1988 Russia Haitian Corner Raoul Peck 1987 Germany, France Halodhia Choraye Baodhan Khai The Catastrophe Jahnu Barua 1987 India Hotreal Ildiko Szabo 1988 Hungary Kyôshû Memory Takehiro Nakajima 1987 Japan Macao Oder Die Rücksteite Des Meeres Macao or the Back of the Sea Clemens Klopfenstein 1988 Switzerland Nakhoda Khorshid Captain Khorshid Nasser Taghvai 1987 Iran Sama The Trace Néjia Ben Mabrouk 1982 Tunisia, Belgium Schlaflose Nächte Sleepless Nights Marcel Gisler 1988 Switzerland, Germany Schmetterlinge Butterflies Wolfgang Becker 1986 Germany Stesso Sangue Same BloodSandro Cecca, Egidio Eronico 1988 ItaliaFamily Viewing Atom Egoyan1987Canada
Out of Competition (Fuori Concorso)
Out of Competition Original Title English Title Director(s) Year Production Country A Winter Tan Jackie Burroughs, Louise Clark 1987 Canada A World Apart Chris Menges 1988 Great Britain Dear America: Letters Home From Vietnam Bill Couturié 1987 USA Doc's Kingdom Robert Kramer 1987 France Hai Zi Wang H AI Zi Wang Chen Kaige 1987 China Hong Gaoliang Hong GA o Beautiful Zhang Yimou 1987 China Hotel Terminus - The Life And Times Of Klaus Barbie Marcel Ophuls 1988 USA I Yineka Pou Evlepe Ta Onira The Woman Who Dreamed Nikos Panayotopoulos 1988 Greece Komissar Commissar Aleksandr Askoldov 1967 Russia Krotki Film O Zabijaniu A Short Film About Killing Krzysztof Kieślowski 1987 Poland Les Noces Barbares Barbaric Wedding Marion Hänsel 1987 France, Belgium Pelle Erobreren Pelle the Conqueror Bille August 1987 Denmark Phera Buddhadeb Dasgupta 1986 India Salaam Bombay! Mira Nair 1988 India, France Sur On Fernando Solanas 1988 Argentina Una Donna Spezzata A Broken Woman Marco Leto 1988 Italia
Special Program Special Program Original Title English Title Director(s) Year Production Country Amore A Cinque Stelle Five Star Love Roberto Giannarelli 1988 Italia Cuore Di Ladro Thief's Heart Fabrizio Giordani 1988 Italia De Bruit Et De Fureur Of Noise and Fury Jean-Claude Brisseau 1986 Switzerland Der Schuh Des Patriarchen The Patriarch's Shoe Bruno Moll 1988 Switzerland Der Wilde Mann The Wild Man Matt Zschokke 1988 Switzerland Fernanda Ricky Tognazzi 1988 Italia Il Mitico Gianluca The Legendary Gianluca Francesco Lazotti 1988 Italia Imago Meret Oppenheim Pamela Robertson Pearce, Anselm Spoerri 1988 Switzerland La Vacanza The Holiday Roger Guillot 1988 Italia Le Retour De L'Enfant Pauvre The Return of the Poor Child Martin Pierlot 1987 France Liebeserklärung Declaration of Love Ursula Bischof Scherer, Georg Janett 1988 Switzerland O Samba The Samba Daniele Costantini 1988 Italia Pour Ecrire Un Mot To Write a Word Walter Marti, Reni Mertens 1988 Switzerland Reisen Ins Landesinnere Travel Inland Matthias von Gunten 1988 Switzerland Till Felix Tissi 1988 Switzerland, Germany
Tribute To – Five Ticino Film Stars Tribute To Five Ticino Stars Original Title English Title Director(s) Year Production Country Die Ehe Der Maria Braun The Marriage of Maria Braun Rainer Werner Fassbinder 1978 Germany La Merveilleuse Vie De Jeanne D'Arc The Wonderful Life of Joan of Arc Marco de Gastyne 1928 France The Good Earth Sidney Franklin 1937 USA The Women George Cukor 1939 USA Voruntersuchung Preliminary Examination Robert Siodmark 1931 Germany
Retrospective – Alberto Cavalcanti Retrospective Alberto Cavalcanti Original Title English Title Director(s) Year Production Country Alice In Switzerland Georges Alexath, Alberto Cavalcanti 1942 Great Britain Au Pays Du Scalp In the Country of Scalp Marquis de Wavrin 1932 Belgium Champagne Charlie Alberto Cavalcanti 1944 Great Britain Coalface Alberto Cavalcanti 1936 Great Britain Coralie Et Cie Alberto Cavalcanti 1933 France Dead Of Night Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden, Robert Hamer 1945 Great Britain Die Windrose That Windrosis Joris Ivens 1956 Germany En Rade A Rade Alberto Cavalcanti 1927 France Film And Reality Alberto Cavalcanti 1942 Great Britain For Them That Trespass Alberto Cavalcanti 1949 Great Britain Herr Puntila Und Sein Knecht Matti Mr. Puntila and His Servant Matti Alberto Cavalcanti 1955 Austria La Galerie Des Monstres The Monster Gallery Jaque Catelain 1924 France La Prima Notte The First Night Alberto Cavalcanti 1958 India, France Le Truc Du Bresilien The Brazilian Thing Alberto Cavalcanti 1932 France Line To Tcherva Hut Alberto Cavalcanti 1936 Great Britain Men Of The Alps Alberto Cavalcanti 1939 Great Britain Message From Geneva Alberto Cavalcanti 1937 Great Britain Midsummer Day'S Work Alberto Cavalcanti 1939 Great Britain Mulher De Verdade Real Woman Alberto Cavalcanti 1954 Brazil New Rates Alberto Cavalcanti 1934 Great Britain Night Mail Harry Watt, Basil Wright 1936 Great Britain North Sea Harry Watt 1938 Great Britain O Canto Do Mar The Canto of the Sea Alberto Cavalcanti 1954 Brazil Pett And Pott Alberto Cavalcanti 1934 Great Britain Plaisir Defendus Disable Pleasure Alberto Cavalcanti 1933 France Rien Que Les Heures Just Hours Alberto Cavalcanti 1926 France Simao, O Caolho Simao, Alberto Cavalcanti 1952 Brazil The Life And Adventures Of Nicholas Nickleby Alberto Cavalcanti 1947 Great Britain The Little People Georg Pearson 1926 Great Britain They Made Me A Fugitive Alberto Cavalcanti 1947 Great Britain Tour De Chant Singing Tower Alberto Cavalcanti 1933 France Trois Chants Pour La France Three Songs for France Alberto Cavalcanti 1942 Great Britain Um Homem E O Cinema A Man and Cinema Alberto Cavalcanti 1976 Brazil We Live In Two Worlds Alberto Cavalcanti 1937 Great Britain Went The Day Well? Alberto Cavalcanti 1942 Great Britain Yellow Caesar Alberto Cavalcanti 1941 Great Britain Yvette Alberto Cavalcanti 1927 France
British National Cinema Week British Week / Feature Films Original Title English Title Director(s) Year Production Country Business As Usual Lezli-Ann Barrette 1987 Great Britain Dreaming Rivers Martina Attile 1988 Great Britain Drowning By Numbers Peter Greendway 1988 Great Britain Fire Raiser Su Braden, Trudi Davies 1988 Great Britain Framed Youth Lesbian and Gay Youth Video Project 1983 Great Britain Friendship'S Death Peter Wollen 1987 Great Britain Further And Particular Stephen Dwoskin 1987 Great Britain Girl Zone Carola Klein 1986 Great Britain Handsworth Song John Akomfrah 1986 Great Britain Out Of Order Jonnie Turpie 1988 Great Britain Rocinante Ann Gudes, Eduardo Guedes 1986 Great Britain Soursweet Mike Newell 1988 Great Britain Stormy Monday Mike Figgis 1988 Great Britain T. Dan Smith Amber Film 1988 Great Britain The Last Of England Derek Jarman 1987 Great Britain The Raggedy Rawney Bob Hoskins 1988 Great Britain This Is Not An Aids Ad Isaac Julien 1987 Great Britain Tumbledown Richard Eyre 1987 Great Britain When The Dog Bites Penny Woolcock 1988 Great BritainShort Films Behind Closed Doors Anna Thew 1987 Great Britain Deep Red Instant Love Rik Lander 1988 Great Britain Lo Pay No Way Vulture Video 1984 Great Britain Taxi Driver Ii George Barber 1986 Great Britain The Hidden Wisdom Patricia Diaz, Michelle McIntosh 1987 Great Britain Uranium Hex Sandra Lahire 1987 Great Britain Water Works Tony Hill 1987 Great Britain
Carte Blanche to Ettore Scola Original Title English Title Director(s) Year Production Country La Prise Du Pouvoir Par Louis Xiv The Taking of Power by Louis XIV Roberto Rossellini 1966 France Miracolo A Milano Miracle in Milan Vittorio De Sica 1950 Italia 8½ Federico Fellini 1962 Italia The Kid Charlie Chaplin 1921 USA The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre John Huston 1948 USA Totò A Colori Totò in Color Steno Stefano Vanzina 1952 Italia
Out of Program Original Title English Title Director(s) Production Country Double Bande Double Band Christiane Kolla Switzerland
Independent Sections
Swiss Information (Information Suisse)