Locarno film festival reaches its 60th year

Locarno, July 30 (UNI) One of the oldest film festivals in the world, Locarno International Film Festival, will raise its curtains in the picture-perfect town of Locarno in Switzerland on August 1.

Like its better-known counterpart in Cannes, the festival too is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year. In its current edition, it would present films both of the established and new directors.

Frederic Maire, who took over as the festival's artistic director last year, has given new directions to the old fest.

Apart from cutting down on the number of films shown in the various official selections, he has rationalised the festival's categories and introduced a few new ones this year. Another step taken is to have more women-centric movies.

''Across all the sections, there are a large number of films (over 20) made by women, and films that deal, more or less directly, with the female condition,'' Mr Maire said.

He has thus included, in a sidebar titled ''Signore&Signore'' (Ladies and Ladies), a tribute to certain outstanding personalities of the Italian Cinema, through exhibition of some of their films.

They include Sophia Loren, Anna Magnani and Gina Lollobrigida.

Locarno has had a special affinity to that cinema, as it is located in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland.

''Vexille'', an animation film, will be the opening film for the festival on August 1 which is a rarity for the opening slot in a filmfest anywhere.

Directed by Fumihiko Mori of Japan, it is about a female agent who investigates the evolution of a dangerous species of robots.

This part-action, part sci-fi movie would have its world premiere in Locarno.

For the International Competition, 19 films have been selected.

One of those is ''Slipstream'', directed by Sir Anthony Hopkins, who is better known for his acting talent (''The Silence of the Lambs'', ''Amistad''). This psycho-film is in fact his third as a director, but the first whose story too is written by him.

Sir Anthony is also acting in the film and is expected in Locarno for its screening. Seven out of the 19 films in International Competition are the first features of their makers.

No Indian film has been selected this year for the main competition. However, in a separate competitive section called ''the Filmmakers of The Present'', there is an Indian entry, director Ashish Avikuntha's ''Nirakar Chhaya'' (Formless Shadows), among the 19 films in contention. Another Indian entry, ''Rewind'' by FTII-trained Atul Taishete is vying for award in yet another competitive section titled ''Leopards of Tomorrow''.

To celebrate its 60th year, Locarno Festival is gathering some of the well-known filmmakers who it claims to have ''discovered'' over the years. They include Adoor Gopalakrishnan (''Mukhamukham'') and Shaji Karun (''Piravi'').

Others so invited to be present (with their designated films) at the 60th Locarno include well-known names such as Claude Chabrol, Istvan Szabo and Mike Leigh.

The Leopard of Honour award would be given to Taiwan's Hou Hsiao-Hsien this year, some of whose films had been shown in the past editions of the festival.

UNI