Locarno to open with Demme's 'Flash'; 14 world premieres in main competition

The 68^th Locarno Film Festival (August 5-15) will open with Jonathan Demme’s musical comedy-drama Ricki And The Flash, in which Meryl Streep stars as a musician who tries to make things right with her family after giving up everything to pursue her dream of rock-and-roll stardom.

Written by Diablo Cody, the film gets a Piazza Grande berth alongside Judd Apatow’s Trainwreck, Alfonso Gomez-Rejon’s Me And Earl And The Dying Girl, Catherine Corsini’s La Belle Saison and Antoine Fuqua’s Southpaw.

Also playing is Michael Cimino’s The Deer Hunter. Cimino is being honoured with a Pardo D’onore Swisscom and will be taking part in an onstage conversation.

14 of the 18 films competing in the festival’s International Competition section for the Golden Leopard Award are world premieres including Andrzej Zulawski’s Cosmos, Ben Rivers’ The Sky Trembles And The Earth Is Afraid And The Two Eyes Are Not Brothers, Athina Rachel Tsangari’s Chevalier and Hong Sangsoo’s Right Now, Wrong Then.

The Cineasts of the Present section, showcasing first and second features, is made up of 14 titles, including Mauro Herce’s Dead Slow Ahead, Vincent Macaigne’s Dom Juan and Senem Tuzen’s Ana Yurdu.

The Signs Of Life section, which launched in 2014 and is aimed at showcasing experimental films and new voices, includes L’accademia Delle Muse by José Luis Guerin and Jiongjiong Qui’s Mr Zhang Believes.

Among this year’s honourees are Edward Norton, who will be presented with the festival’s Excellence Award as well as taking part in an onstage conversation; Andy Garcia, who will take away the Leopard Club Award; Teco Celio, who will receive the Premio Cinema Ticino; and Russian filmmaker Marlen Khutsiev who will receive the Pardo alla carriera.

Other high profile attendees at the festival are expected to include Chantal Akerman, Clémence Poésy, Marco Bellocchio and Amy Schumer.

This year’s retrospective is dedicated to Sam Peckinpah while strand Open Doors will focus on films from Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia.

PIAZZA GRANDE

Amnesia, dir Barbet Schroeder (Switzerland/France)

Bombay Velvet, dir Anurag Kashyap (India)

Der Staat Gegen Frtiz Bauer, dir Lars Kraume (Germany)

Erlkonig, dir Georges Schwizgebel (Switzerland)

Floride, dir Philippe Le Guay (France)

Guibord S’en Va-T-En-Guerre, dir Philippe Falardeau (Canada)

Heliopolis, dir Sérgio Machado (Brazil)

Pugni In Tasca, dir Marco Bellocchio (Italy)

Jack, dir Elisabeth Scharang (Austria)

La Belle Saison, dir Catherine Corsini (France)

La Vanite, dir Lionel Baier (Switzerland/France)

Le Dernier Passage, dir Pascal Magontier (France)

Me And Earl And The Dying Girl, dir Alfonso Gomez-Rejon (US)

Pastorale Cilentana, dir Mario Martone (Italy)

The Laundryman, dir LEE Chung (Taiwan)

Southpaw, dir Antoine Fuqua (US)

The Deer Hunter, dir Michael Cimino (UK/US)

Trainwreck, dir Judd Apatow (US)

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION

Bella E Perduta, dir Pietro Marcello (Italy)
World premiere

Brat Dejan, dir Bakur Bakuradze (Russia/Serbia)
World premiere

Chevalier, dir Athina Rachel Tsangari (Greece)
World premiere

Cosmos, dir Andrzej Zulawski (France/Portugal)
World premiere

Entertainment, dir Rick Alverson (US)
International premiere

Happy Hour, dir Ryusuke Hamaguchi (Japan)
World Premiere

Heimatland, dir Lisa Blatter, Gregor Frei, Jan Gassmann, Benny Jaberg, Carmen Jaquier, Michael Krummenacher, Jonas Meier, Tobias Nölle, Lionel Rupp, Mike Scheiwiller (Switzerland/Germany)
World Premiere

James White, dir Josh Mond (US)
International Premiere

Right Now, Wrong Then, dir Sangsoo HONG (South Korea)
World Premiere

Ma Dar Behesht (Paradise), dir Sina Ataeian Dena (Iran/Germany)
World Premiere

No Home Movie, dir Chantal Akerman (Belgium/France)
World Premiere

O Futebol, dir Sergio Oksman (Spain)
World Premiere

Schneider Vs Bax, dir Alex van Warmerdam (Netherlands/Belgium)
International Premiere

Suite Armoricaine, dir Pascale Breton (France)
World Premiere

Sulanga Gini Aran, (Dark in the White Light), dir Vimukthi Jayasundara (Sri Lanka)
World Premiere

Te Prometo Anarquia, dir Julio Hernández Cordón (Mexico/Germany)
World Premiere

The Sky Trembles And The Earth Is Afraid And The Two Eyes Are Not Brothers, dir Ben Rivers
(UK) World Premiere

Tikkun, dir Avishai Sivan (Israel)
International Premiere

CINEASTS OF THE PRESENT

Dead Slow Ahead, dir Mauro Herce (Spain/France)
World Premiere

Der Nachtmahr, dir Akiz (Germany)
International Premiere

Dom Juan, dir Vincent Macaigne (France)
World Premiere

Dream Land, dir Steve Chen (Cambodia/US)
World premiere

El Movimiento, dir Benjamín Naishtat (Argentina/South Korea)
World Premiere

Le Grand Jeu, dir Nicolas Pariser (France)
World premiere

Les Etres Chers, dir Anne Émond (Canada)
World Premiere

Lu Bian Ye Can, dir BI Gan (China)
World premiere

Moj Brate – Mio Fratello, dir Nazareno Manuel Nicoletti (Italy/Canada/Bosnia-Herzegovina)
World Premiere

Olmo & The Seagull, dir Petra Costa, Lea Glob (Denmark/Brazil/Portugal/France)
World premiere

Siembra, dir Ángela Osorio Rojas, Santiago Lozano Álvarez (Colombia/Germany)
World premiere

The Waiting Room, dir Igor Drljaca (Canada)
World Premiere

Thithi, dir Raam Reddy (India)
World Premiere

SIGNS OF LIFE

88:88, dir Isiah Medina (Canada)
World premiere

CHI (Mr. Zhang Believes), dir QIU Jiongjiong (China)
World premiere

Deux Remi, Deux, dir Pierre Léon (France/Switzerland)
World Premiere

L’Accademia Delle Muse, dir José Luis Guerin (Spain)
World Premiere

L’Infinita Fabbrica Del Duomo, dir Martina Parenti, Massimo D’anolfi (Italy)
World Premiere

Machine Gun Or Typewriter, dir Travis Wilkerson (US)
World premiere

Recollection, dir Kamal Aljafari (Germany)
World Premiere

Slackjaw, dir Zach Weintraub (US)
World premiere