The 60th International Film Festival Locarno
presents PLAY FORWARD
1-11 August 2007
Locarno International Film Festival
Via Ciseri 23 – 6600 Locarno – Switzerland
phone +41 91 756 21 51
Fax +41 91 756 21 59
www.pardo.ch
Acting as an interface for film, video art and all other media, the intention of the Play Forward is to create an ideal space for the entire range of contemporary audiovisual experimentation. Open to any format or length and to every kind of digital technology, the programming brings together works that are strong and radical, whether in form or content. In just a few years, the section has established itself through its selection, courtesy of some of the major international art galleries, from such prestigious artists as Matthew Barney, Shirin Neshat, Isaac Julien, Nan Goldin, Oliviero Toscani, not to mention the most recent forms of expression relating to new technologies, from the web to mobile phones.
A selection of full-length features
One of the full length features presented in 2007 is Después del mar, a project initially conceived as an installation, by Adrian Caetano, known for fiction features such as Bolivia and Un Oso rojo. Likewise, Blood of a Poet, by the great Polish artist Lech Majewski, is a film version of the installation currently on display at the Venice Biennale. Literature and painting went into the making of Johnny 316 by Erick Ifergan (USA), a free adaptation from Oscar Wilde in which Vincent Gallo roams Hollywood as a new Jesus, enhanced by a superb cinematography.
Artists of renown
Play Forward’s second brief is to present artists of world renown (in partnership with major international art galleries), in a dialogue with independent filmmakers, a discerning niche audience and film directors who have decided to make at least one film outside the “classical” canon. This year the Festival will be hosting, among others, recent works by Richard Billingham, Olivo Barberi, Vanessa Beecroft, Yang Fudong, David Austen, Victor Alimpiev, but also new works by established directors such as Bertrand Bonello, Vincent Dieutre and Ghassan Salhab.
Somewhere in between — second part
Play Forward will be deepening the reflection on the frontiers between cinema and arts with the second part of a panel launched in 2006; on Monday August 6th, professionals, artists and filmakers attending the festival will discuss about their newest experiences in the aim of an exchange in the field of visual arts.
Outside the cinema
In the search of this exchange, during the whole period of the festival, two installations, Pshycastenia -2+2 de Knut Asdam and The Dark Side de Pierre Coulibeuf will be presented at La Rada , space for the contemporary art in Locarno, thanks to the collaboration of Fine Arts Unternehmen AG de Franco Marinotti (August, 2 – 11, 2007; Opening August 2, 2007 – 6p.m.)
