The 65th Locarno Film Festival was held from 1 to 11 August 2012 in Locarno, Switzerland. The opening film was the world premiere of The Sweeney directed by Nick Love. Director Souleymane Cisse was honored at the festival with a ceremony and retrospective of his work. Cisse also assisted in the Open Doors section this year, which focused on African films.
The Leopard of Honor, was awarded to French director Leos Carax, who attended the festival with his film Holy Motors. A complete retrospective of Carax's work was also featured at the festival. Another retrospective was held for the work of director Otto Preminger. The Locarno Excellence Award was given to Charlotte Rampling and Gael Garcia Bernal, who both attended the festival.
Rain forced many night screenings on the Piazza Grande, the 8,000 seat open-air theater, indoors to the smaller Favi theater. The GoPro shot documentary Leviatian and the docu-fiction Museum Hours directed by Jem Cohen were standouts amongst those reviewing the festival.
This was artistic director Olivier Père's last year at the festival after three years as its chef. Père stepped down to become the head of the French television network, ARTE.
The Golden Leopard, the festival's top prize, was awarded to The Girl From Nowhere directed by Jean-Claude Brisseau.The film had such a small budget, only €62,000 Euros, that just by winning the Golden Leopard's €90,000 Euro cash prize the film was profitable.
Official Juries
Main Competition - (Concorso Internazionale) Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Thai director, Jury president Roger Avary, American screenwriter, producer and director Im Sang-soo, South Korean director Noémie Lvovsky, French director, screenwriter and actress Hans Ulrich Obrist, Swiss art curator and writer, co-director of the Serpentine Gallery in London
Filmmakers of the Present Competition - (Concorso Cineasti del Presente)
Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, Chadian director Ana Moreira, Portuguese actress Alex Ross Perry, American director Luciano Rigolini, Swiss producer at ARTE Yuhang Ho, Malaysian filmmaker
Leopards of Tomorrow - (Pardi di domani)
Mark Peploe, British screenwriter and director, Jury president Laurent Achard, French director Robin Harsch, Swiss actor and filmmaker Isabelle Mayor, Swiss director and programmer Kleber Mendonça Filho, Brazilian director
Best First Film
Dennis Lim, film critic Boris Nelepo, film critic Abi Sakamoto, film programmer
Official Sections
The following films were screened in these sections:
Piazza Grande Piazza Grande: Prefestival English Title Original Title Director(s) Year Production Country1848 Dino Risi 1949 Italy Rice Girl La Risaia Raffaello Matarazzo 1956 ItalyRear Window Alfred Hitchcock 1954Shouting Secrets Korinna Sehringer 2011 Switzerland
Piazza Grande English Title Original Title Director(s) Year Production CountryBachelorette Leslye Headland 2011 USA Hello Sadness Bonjour Tristesse Otto Preminger 1958 USACamille Rewinds Camille Redouble Noémie Lvovsky 2012 France The Miss Massacre Das Missen Massaker Michael Steiner 2012 SwitzerlandLore Cate Shortland 2012 GermanyMagic Mike Steven Soderbergh 2012 USAMore than Honey Markus Imhoof 2012 SwitzerlandMotorway Soi Cheang 2012 Hong Kong Lullaby Ride Nachtlärm Christoph Schaub 2012 SwitzerlandNo Pablo Larraín 2012 Chile A Few Hours of Spring Quelques Heures De Printemps Stéphane Brizé 2012 FranceRuby Sparks Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris 2012 USASightseers Ben Wheatley 2012 Great BritainThe Sweeney Nick Love 2012 Great BritainWhile We Were Here Kat Coiro 2012 USAWrong Quentin Dupieux 2012 France
Piazza Grande: Shorts Original Title English Title Director(s) Year Production Country The Black Balloon Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie 2012 USA
Main Competition International Competition (Concorso Internazionale) Original Title English Title Director(s) Year Production Country A Última Vez Que Vi Macau The Last Time I Saw Macao João Rui Guerra da Mata, João Pedro Rodrigues 2012 Portugal Berberian Sound Studio Peter Strickland 2012 Great Britain Compliance Craig Zobel 2012 USA Der Glanz Des Tages The Shine of the Day Tizza Covi, Rainer Frimmel 2012 Austria Image Problem Simon Baumann, Andreas Pfiffner 2012 Switzerland Jack & Diane Bradley Rust Gray 2011 USA La Fille De Nulle Part The Girl from Nowhere Jean-Claude Brisseau 2012 France Leviathan Lucien Castaing-Taylor, Véréna Paravel 2012 Great Britain Los Mejores Temas The Best Themes Nicolás Pereda 2012 Mexico Mobile Home François Pirot 2012 Belgium Museum Hours Jem Cohen 2012 Austria Padroni Di Casa The Landlords Edoardo Gabbriellini 2012 Italy Playback Sho Miyake 2012 Japan Polvo Dust Julio Hernández Cordón 2012 Guatemala Somebody Up There Likes Me Robert Byington 2011 USA Starlet Sean Baker 2012 USA The End Of Time Peter Mettler 2012 Switzerland Une Estonienne À Paris An Estonian in Paris Ilmar Raag 2011 France Wo Hai You Hua Yao Shuo When Night Falls Ying Liang 2012 South Korea
Filmmakers of the Present The Concorso Cineasti del Presente, also known as the Filmmakers of the Present Competition, showcases first and second feature films from emerging filmmakers.
Filmmakers of the Present Original Title English Title Director(s) Production Country Ape Joel Potrykus USA Arraianos Arraian Eloy Enciso Spain Boa Sorte, Meu Amor Good Luck, Sweetheart Daniel Aragão Brazil Inori To Anyone Pedro González-Rubio Japan Ji Yi Wang Zhe Wo Fang Song China Les Gouffres The Abyss Antoine Barraud France Les Mouvements Du Bassin Basin Movements HPG France Not In Tel Aviv Nony Geffen Israel Orleans Virgil Vernier France People'S Park Libbie Dina Cohn, J. P. Sniadecki USA Tectonics Peter Bo Rappmund USA Tower Kazik Radwanski Canada Tutti Giù All Down Niccolò Castelli Switzerland Vakansi Yang Janggal Dan Penyakit Lainnya Odd Vacans and Other Diseases Noen Anggi Indonesia Winter, Go Away! Elena Khoreva, Denis Klebleev, Askold Kurov, Dmitry Kusabov, Nadezhda Leonteva, Anna Moiseenko, Madina Mustafina, Sofia Rodkevich, Anton Seregin, Alexey Zhiriakov Russia
Out of Competition Out of Competition: Feature Films Original Title English Title Director(s) Year Production Country Age Is... Stephen Dwoskin 2012 France Chiri It is Naomi Kawase 2012 Japan Fairy Queen Jean-Paul Civeyrac 2012 France Far From Afghanistan John Gianvito, Jon Jost, Minda Martin, Soon- Mi Yoo, Travis Wilkerson 2012 USA I, Anna Barnaby Southcombe 2012 Great Britain Ingrid Caven, Musique Et Voix Ingrid Caven, Music and Voice Bertrand Bonello 2012 France La Richesse Du Loup The Richness of the Wolf Damien Odoul 2012 France Les Coquillettes The Shells Sophie Letourneur 2012 France L'Enclos Du Temps The Time Enclosure Jean-Charles Fitoussi 2012 France Nami No Oto Us Here HAMAGUCHI Ryusuke, Kou Sakai 2011 Japan Perret In Frankreich Und Algerien Perret in France and Algeria Heinz Emigholz 2012 Germany Rio Sarah Morris 2012 USA The Capsule 2012 Greece
Out of Competition: Jeonju Digital Project Original Title English Title Director(s) Production Country Light In The Yellow Breathing Space Vimukthi Jayasundara South Korea The Great Cinema Party Raya Martin South Korea
Open Doors This year's Open Doors section focused on African film.
Open Doors Screenings Original Title English Title Director(s) Year Production Country Aujourd'Hui Today Alain Gomis 2012 France Bal Poussière Dancing in the Dust Henri Duparc 1989 Ivory Coast Bamako Abderrahmane Sissako 2006 Mali Chocolat Claire Denis 1988 France Guimba, Un Tyran, Une Époque Guimba, a Tyrant, an Era Cheick Oumar Sissoko 1995 Mali Il Va Pleuvoir Sur Conakry He's Going to Rain on Conakry Cheick Fantamady Camara 2007 Guinea La Noire De... Black Girl Ousmane Sembène 1966 France La Pirogue The Pirogue Moussa Touré 2012 Senegal Le Clandestin The Clandestine Zeka Laplaine 1996 Congo Le Damier, Papa National Oyé! The Checkerboard, Dad National Oyé! Balufu Bakupa-Kaniynda 1996 Congo Le Monologue De La Muette The Monologue of La Muette Khady Sylla, Charles Van Damme 2008 Senegal Muna Moto Jean-Pierre Dikongué Pipa 1975 Cameroon Po Di Sangui Flora Gomes 1996 Guinea Bissau Samba Traoré Idrissa Ouédraogo 1992 Burkina Faso Soleil O Med Hondo 1969 France Touki Bouki Djibril Diop Mambéty 1973 Senegal Une Fenêtre Ouverte An Open Window Khady Sylla 2005 Senegal Visages De Femmes Women's Faces Désiré Ecaré 1985 Ivory Coast Viva Riva! Djo Tunda Wa Munga 2010 Congo Wênd Kûuni Photos of Kuuni Gaston Kaboré 1982 Burkina Faso Yeelen Souleymane Cissé 1987 Mali
Leopards of Tomorrow Leopards of Tomorrow (Pardi di Domani)
International Competition International Competition Leopards of Tomorrow Original Title English Title Director(s) Year Production Country Back Of Beyond Michael Lennox 2012 Great Britain Birlikte Together Baris Corak 2012 Türkiye Cavo D'Oro Golden Cable Siamak Etemadi 2012 Greece Distants Distance Janno Jürgens 2012 Estonia Feliz Achille Milone 2012 Argentina Fort Buchanan Benjamin Crotty 2012 France Homma Aailiyya Amr Abdelhadi 2012 Giordania Ismael Sebastián Hofmann 2012 Mexico Je Sens Le Beat Qui Monte En Moi I Feel the Beat that Goes Up in Me Yann Le Quellec 2012 France Last Remarks Umar Riaz 2012 Pakistan Los Retratos The Portraits Iván D. Gaona 2012 Colombia Meaning Of Robots Matt Lenski 2011 USA Mirakel Utmed Riksväg 43 Miracle along National Highway 43 Ronnie Sandahl 2012 Sweden Nous Ne Serons Plus Jamais Seuls We will Never be Alone Again Yann Gonzalez 2012 France O Que Arde Cura What Does He Cure João Rui Guerra da Mata 2012 Portugal Rivers Return Joe Vanhoutteghem 2011 Belgium Roubama Steal Rakan Mayasi 2012 Lebanon Sano Kiitos Ja Tanssi Say Thanks and Dance Antti Heikki Pesonen 2012 Finland Serce Do Walki Heart to Fight Tomek Matuszczak 2011 Poland Solo Mina Yonezawa 2012 Japan Suspended Damian Walshe-Howling 2012 Australia The Giant David Raboy 2011 USA The Mass of Men Gabriel Gauchet 2012 Great Britain The Pit Itamar Lapid 2011 Israel Yaderni Wydhody Myroslav Slaboshpytskyi 2012 Ukraina Zašto Slonovi? Why Elephants? Marko Mestrovic 2012 Croatia Zwazo Bird Gabriel Abrantes 2012 Portugal Über Rauhem Grund About a Rough Reason Youdid Kahveci 2012 Germany
National Competition National Competition – Leopards of Tomorrow Original Title English Title Director(s) Year Production Country Homo Sapiens Cyborg Stefano Mosimann 2012 Switzerland Il Vulcano The Volcano Alice Riva 2012 Switzerland Lamina Christian Tschanz 2012 Switzerland Le Jour Viendra The Day will Come Cicero Egli 2012 Switzerland Les Ambassadeurs Ambassadors Maxime Matray, Alexia Walther 2012 Switzerland Letzte Runde Last Round Kerstin Polte 2012 Switzerland L'Amour Bègue Bègue Love Jan Czarlewski 2012 Switzerland On The Beach Marie-Elsa Sgualdo 2012 Switzerland Radio-Actif Radioactive Nathan Hofstetter 2012 Switzerland
Author Shorts Author Shorts (Corti d'artista) - Leopards of Tomorrow Original Title English Title Director(s) Year Production Country Biografi Biography Magnus Bärtås 2012 Sweden Columbos Takumi Kawai, Hiroki Okamura, Kawai+Okamura 2012 Japan Concrete Parlay Fern Silva 2012 USA I First Saw The Light Phillip Warnell 2012 Great Britain Insight Sebastian Diaz Morales 2012 Netherlands Monumento Monument Gregorio Graziosi 2012 Brazil Perspective Du Sous-Sol Perspective of the Subsoil Olivier Zabat 2012 France The Creation As We Saw It Ben Rivers 2012 Great Britain The Hidden Conference: A Fractured Play Rosa Barba 2011 Germany The Name Is Not The Thing Named Deborah Stratman 2012 USA The Wave Sarah Vanagt, Katrien Vermeire 2012 Belgium Un Archipel An Archipelago Clément Cogitore 2011 France
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