The final selection has been made of the twenty full-length feature projects which will take part in The Films After Tomorrow, the Locarno Film Festival initiative that aims to offer concrete support to filmmakers who were forced to stop working by the global pandemic. On 15 August, two juries will award the prizes, allocated for the completion of the film and/or the resumption of production: two Pardo 2020 prizes, each worth 70,000 Swiss francs, to the best international and Swiss projects, as well as the Campari Award of 50,000 Swiss francs and the Swatch Award of 30,000 Swiss francs to an international project. Moreover, SRG SSR will award a prize to a Swiss project in the form of a promotional television campaign worth 100,000 Swiss francs.
Artistic Director Lili Hinstin and the Locarno Film Festival selection committee assessed 545 projects that were submitted to The Films After Tomorrow following the call for applications, originating from no less than 101 different countries. From these entries, the Artistic Director and her team picked the shortlist of twenty which will compete for the two Pardi 2020 and this year’s other prizes: ten projects in the international selection and ten in the Swiss selection, organized and promoted in collaboration with SWISS FILMS.
- Chocobar by Lucrecia Martel – Argentina/USA/The Netherlands – Produced by: Rei Cine: Benjamin Domenech, Louverture Films, Lemming Film
- Cidade;Campo by Juliana Rojas – Brazil – Produced by: Dezenove Som e Imagens: Sara Silveira
- De Humani Corporis Fabrica (The Fabric of the Human Body) by Verena Paravel and Lucien Castaing-Taylor – France/USA – Produced by: Norte Productions: Valentina Novati, Sensory Ethnography Lab: Verena Paravel and Lucien Castaing-Taylor
- Eureka by Lisandro Alonso – France/Germany/Portugal/Mexico/Argentina – Produced by: Luxbox: Fiorella Moretti and Hédi Zardi, Komplizen, Rosa Filmes, Mr. Woo, 4L
- Human Flowers of Flesh by Helena Wittmann – Germany/France – Produced by: Fünferfilm: Frank Scheuffele, Karsten Krause and Julia Cöllen, Tita Productions: Christophe Bouffil
- I Come From Ikotun by WANG Bing – France/China – Produced by: Idéale Audience: Hélène Le Coeur and Pierre-Olivier Bardet, WIL Productions: Lihong Kong
- Kapag Wala Nang Mga Alon (When The Waves Are Gone) by Lav Diaz – Philippines/France/Portugal/ Denmark – Produced by: Films Boutique: Jean-Christophe Simon and Gabor Greiner, Epicmedia Productions: Bianca Balbuena and Bradley Liew, Rosa Filmes: Joaquim Sapinho, Snowglobe Film: Eva Jakobsen, Katrin Pors and Mikkel Jersin
- Nowhere Near by Miko Revereza – Philippines/Mexico/USA – Produced by: Los Otros: Shireen Seno, Cine Droga
- Petite Solange (Little Solange) by Axelle Ropert – France – Produced by: Aurora Films: Charlotte Vincent
- Selvajaria (Savagery) by Miguel Gomes – Portugal/France/Brazil/China/Greece – Produced by: O SOM E A FÚRIA: Luís Urbano, Shellac Sud, RT Features, Rediance Films, Faliro House
- Azor by Andreas Fontana – Switzerland/Argentina/France – Produced by: Alina Film: Eugenia Mumenthaler and David Epiney, RTS, Ruda cine, Local Films
- Ein Stück Himmel (A Piece of Sky) by Michael Koch – Switzerland/Germany – Produced by: hugofilm features: Christof Neracher, Pandora Film Produktion, SRF SRG SSR, ARTE
- Far West by Pierre-François Sauter – Switzerland/Portugal/Italy – Produced by: Le Laboratoire Central: Nadejda Magnenat, Terratreme: João Matos, Qoomoon: Luciano Barisone and Luca Scarabelli
- A Flower in the Mouth by Eric Baudelaire – Switzerland/France – Produced by: Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen: Giovanni Carmine, Poulet-Malassis Films: Eric Baudelaire
- L’Afrique des femmes by Mohammed Soudani – Switzerland/Ivory Coast – Produced by: Amka Films Productions: Tiziana Soudani (1955-2020), Michela Pini and Amel Soudani, RSI SRG SSR, Nikady's Production: Djira Youssouf
- Les Histoires d’amour de Liv S. by Anna Luif – Switzerland – Produced by: Beauvoir Films: Aline Schmid
- LUX by Raphaël Dubach and Mateo Ybarra – Switzerland – Produced by: Jeunes Sauvages: Raphaël Dubach and Mateo Ybarra
- Olga by Elie Grappe – Switzerland/France – Produced by: Pointprod: Jean-Marc Fröhle, Cinéma Defacto: Tom Dercourt, RTS SRG SSR, Canal +
- Unrueh (Unrest) by Cyril Schäublin – Switzerland – Produced by: Seeland Filmproduktion: Linda Vogel and Michela Pini
- Zahorí by Marí Alessandrini – Switzerland/Argentina/Chile/France – Produced by: Le Laboratoire Central: Nadejda Magnenat, El Calefón Cine: Juan Carlos Maristany, Cinestación: Dominga Sotomayor, Norte Productions: Valentina Novati
The line-up mixes leading artists on the festival circuit, some of whom were discovered or attracted critical notice at earlier editions of the Locarno Film Festival, as well as emerging talents. The final selection offers a picture of filmmaking that exhibits the audacity and spirit of discovery which have always been the hallmarks of Locarno.
Lili Hinstin, Artistic Director of the Locarno Film Festival: “Our role as a Festival is to build a bridge between films, industry and audience, and so we have tried to find alternative ways of pursuing that mission in a year fraught with difficulties for films and the film business everywhere. In our choice of international projects, we looked at both benchmark directors in new world cinema and at promising new voices, picking out a line-up that speaks of the range of problems encountered by independent productions in very different regions of the world. The Swiss projects, on the other hand, reflect a vibrant creative scene packed with debut features, documentaries and projects. Together they are a powerful testimony to Switzerland’s special rapport with its own history and with the rest of the world.”
Projects on hold waiting to be discovered
From 5 to 15 August the Locarno 2020 audience will be able to access a presentation of the selected projects on the Festival website, which will host pages dedicated to this year’s new section, The Films After Tomorrow. Users will find plot synopses and pictures from the projects, as well as a video presentation on the films in progress and their directors. During the same period, some of the selected filmmakers will hold online masterclasses open to the public, discussing their work and reflecting on what the future may hold for cinema.
The future, however, will not be the only topic of conversation, as the participating filmmakers will also look back at the Festival’s past. Each director will be tasked with picking one film from previous editions of Locarno to build the program for the section, A Journey in the Festival’s History: a series of screenings that, from 5 to 15 August, will allow all viewers to travel back and discover landmark films in the event’s rich history, guided by the gaze of the makers of cinema today.
The titles in this special selection will be announced in July.
The prizes
Alongside two Pardi 2020 worth 70,000 Swiss francs each, the juries will award other prizes offered by the Festival’s Partners, which as of this year include Campari. In a time of crisis such as this, Partners have yet again shown their support for the Festival and for auteur filmmaking.
- SRG SSR Award: promotional television campaign worth 100,000 Swiss francs for a Swiss project, guaranteeing publicity on the broadcaster’s own channels.
- Campari Award: special jury prize worth 50,000 Swiss francs, awarded to an international project.
- Swatch Award: 30,000 Swiss francs, awarded to the most innovative international project.
The members of the two juries for The Films After Tomorrow will be announced over the coming weeks.
The two official juries will be joined by the jury for the Festival’s youth initiative, Cinema & Gioventù. This jury will be responsible for various awards for projects in The Films After Tomorrow, including one worth 5,000 Swiss francs for the best international project, one worth 3,000 Swiss francs for the best Swiss project, and lastly the environmental prize, Environment is quality of life, worth 3,000 Swiss francs.