RECORD YEAR

Four festival favourites and a high-profile world premiere from Switzerland will be in the spotlight on the Piazza Grande, with Klaudia Reynicke’s REINAS (Alva Film) kicking off the festival on August 8th. The Swiss-Peruvian-Spanish production celebrated its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival and was subsequently screened at the Berlinale.

This will be followed by Simon Jaquemet’s ELECTRIC CHILD celebrating its world premiere on August 9th. The film is about a father who relies on an experiment with artificial intelligence to save his terminally ill baby. Jaquemet’s third feature-length film is a Swiss-German-Dutch production by 8horses (Michela Pini, Aurelius Eisenreich, Simon Jaquemet). On the same evening, the Swiss-French actress Irène Jacob will be honoured with the Leopard Club Award on the Piazza.

The US-Swiss thriller SEW TORN by Freddy Macdonald (Swiss coproduction Orisono GmbH, Sebastian Klinger) will be screened in the late programme on August 10th. The film was shot in the Swiss Alps and premiered at the SXSW genre festival in Austin.

Swiss animation filmmaker Claude Barras will receive the Locarno Kids Award on August 13th, followed by the Swiss premiere of his new animation film SAUVAGES (Nicolas Burlet, Nadasdy Film). The film celebrated its premiere in Cannes and was screened in competition at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival. A showcase of Barras’ short films as well as his Oscar-nominated feature-length animation MA VIE DE COURGETTE will be presented in the Locarno Kids Screenings section.

The closing film on the Piazza Grande on August 17th will be Laetitia Dosch’s Swiss-French comedy LE PROCÈS DU CHIEN (Lionel Baier, Agnieszka Ramu, Bande à part Films), which celebrated its world premiere in Cannes.

World premieres in the International Competition

Competing in the Concorso Internazionale will be Ramon Zürcher’s DER SPATZ IM KAMIN, starring German actress Maren Eggert and produced by Silvan Zürcher (Zürcher Film GmbH). The film is the third collaboration by the two brothers, who won the award for Best Director for DAS MÄDCHEN UND DIE SPINNE in the Encounters section at the Berlinale 2021. Their films have their very own signature style: At first glance, they tell seemingly everyday stories, but are suffused with enigmatically bizarre undertones.

Furthermore, two Swiss coproductions will celebrate their world premieres in the Concorso Internazionale: the Portuguese-Swiss-French debut film FOGO DO VENTO by Portuguese director Marta Mateus, coproduced Swiss producer Fabrice Aragno (Casa Azul Films). TRANSAMAZONIA by German filmmaker Pia Marais (France, Germany, Switzerland, Taiwan, Brazil) is a Swiss coproduction with Jean-Marc Fröhle (Point Prod). The cast includes the young German actress Helena Zengel, already known from SYSTEMSPRENGER, and Swiss actress Sabine Timoteo.

World premieres in the Cineasti del Presente and Fuori Concorso

Two coming-of-age stories will compete in the Cineasti del Presente, which offers first and second works a chance to make their mark: HANAMI is the first feature-length film by Denise Fernandes. The Ticinese director with a Cape Verdean background studied Film at the CISA in Lugano and in Cuba. Like her short film NHA MILA, which screened in Locarno in 2020, HANAMI is set on the Cape Verde islands. The film was produced by Geneva-based Alina film (Eugenia Mumenthaler, David Epiney) in coproduction with O Som e a Fúria in Portugal and ventura film in Ticino.

The second film with Swiss participation screening in the Cineasti del Presente is the German-Swiss debut film DER FLECK by German director Willy Hans, coproduced by Michela Pini and Matthias Huser (8horses).

DIE WUNDERSAME VERWANDLUNG DER ARBEITERKLASSE IN AUSLÄNDER by filmmaker Samir will celebrate its world premiere out of competition in the Fuori Concorso section. The essayistic documentary film about Swiss working-class culture was produced by Levin Vieth and Werner Swiss Schweizer together with Dschoint Ventschr Filmproduktion.

For the first time ever, a Swiss series will also be celebrating its premiere in Locarno – also in Fuori Concorso: ESPÈCE MENACÉE, the idea and screenplay by Bruno Deville, Léo Maillard and the well-known Swiss-French comedian Marina Rollmann, who also stars as an actress. The series was directed by Bruno Deville and produced by Pauline Gygax and Max Karli of Rita Productions together with RTS.

Two Swiss documentary films will world premiere in the independent Semaine de la Critique section, opening with SISTER’S TALE, produced by Mira Film Basel in coproduction with France and Iran. The filmmaker Leila Amini accompanied her sister, a housewife in Iran who dares to pursue her lifelong dream of singing despite the restrictions imposed on women.

In WIR ERBEN, director Simon Baumann takes a closer look at the expectations of his parents, who want to pass on their life’s work to him, as well as the challenges and demands that come with such a decision. Production: Dieter Fahrer, Balzli & Fahrer GmbH.

Short films from Switzerland

Ten Swiss short films will be screened in the National Competition of Pardi di Domani, including works such as Naomi Pacifique’s fiction film LOOKING SHE SAID I FORGET, Samuel Patthey’s animation film SANS VOIX, Mégane Brügger’s documentary film MAMAN DANSE and Ciel Sourdeau’s experimental film SKY ROGERS, MANAGER DE STARS.

The Swiss entry in the International Competition Corti d’Autori is LES BOUCHES by Valentin Merz, who was honoured with the First Feature Award in Locarno in 2022 for his film DE NOCHE LOS GATOS SON PARDOS.

Highlights in the Panorama Suisse

Five documentary and five feature-length films will be showcased in the Panorama Suisse, which is jointly curated by the Solothurn Film Festival, the Swiss Film Academy and SWISS FILMS. The ten works have celebrated success at festivals or in cinemas in recent months. The programme includes, to name just two, the fiction film LES PARADIS DE DIANE by Carmen Jaquier and Jan Gassmann, which celebrated its premiere at the Berlinale, as well as Nicole Vögele’s documentary film THE LANDSCAPE AND THE FURY, which was honoured with the Grand Prix at the Visions du Réel Festival.

The Histoire(s) du cinéma programme will present several digitally restored Swiss film classics, including JONAS QUI AURA 25 ANS EN L'AN 2000 by Alain Tanner (1976) and REPÉRAGES by Michel Soutter (1977).

Swiss projects at Locarno Pro

SWISS FILMS has organised its annual SWISS FILMS Previews in partnership with Locarno Pro. Five current Swiss film projects shortly before release will be pitched to an international industry audience by directors and producers. Have a look at our Booklet SWISS FILMS Previews.

The Alliance 4 Development programme by Locarno Pro has selected three Swiss projects: EIN JAHR OHNE SOMMER by Flurin Giger, produced by Aline Schmid (Beauvoir Films); PARADIS PERDU by Hugues Hariche, produced by Xavier Grin (P.S. Productions); and UNDERCURRENTS by Beatrice Minger, produced by Rhea Plangg and Michela Pini (Cinédokké, Lido Pictures).

On behalf of the Federal Office of Culture (FOC), SWISS FILMS supports the international launch of Swiss film productions in the festival programme. Furthermore, visitors can learn more about SWISS FILMS and its communication and promotion activities at the Info-Point in Palazzo Sopracenerina.

An overview of all festival films and coproductions as well as a curated selection of new films and projects in production can be found in the SWISS FILMS Line-up Locarno 2024.