“Let’s make something! – Facciamo qualcosa!”

Photo: Last edition of " L’immagine e la parola" workshop led by Béla Tarr, 2019.

The 9th edition of  L’immagine e la parola (March 12-13th), Locarno Film Festival’s spring-time literary event, this year is dedicated to the future of moving images and the expanding boundaries of the audiovisual. The Ticino Film Commission could not miss the appointment, it will be present accompanying the young talents who will participate in the Spring Academy during a workshop of 10 days that will lead them to realize their own short film in the frame of the Ticino territory.

The twelve selected filmmakers from all over the world, including Ticino, will be mentored by Michelangelo Frammartino in a ten-day workshop running from 11 through 20 March. This intensive bout of filmmaking training will take participants from a theoretical starting point on how to activate the viewer’s role in a work of cinema right through to completing their own short film. Participating in the workshop there are also four young talents from Ticino: Andrea Bordoli, Matilde Casari, Agnese Làposi e Reto Gelshorn.  Profiles of all participants can be viewed at the followin g link.

The Ticino Film Commission will assist the workshop participants before and during the shooting of their short films by providing its support: from the selection of locations for filming to the search for professional actors and extras to the request and facilitation of authorizations and permits. The Film Commission will also make available its team during all days of shooting, so as to be able to respond quickly and competently to any need of the productions taking place in the area. The resulting shorts will be screened during the 75th Locarno Film Festival (3-13 August 2022).

The program of masterclasses and meetings

Finally, we are pleased to point out the interesting meetings offered during the two days of L'immagine e la parola, which will reflect on the future of cinema and festivals and on the frontier territories of audiovisuals and which will be held at the home of the film arts in Canton Ticino, the PalaCinema in Locarno.

Saturday, March 12th:

• 14:00 - 15:30: Cinema in the Age of Netflix: Kevin B. Lee, Locarno Film Festival professor on the future of film and audiovisual arts at USI. In connection with filmmaker Gitanjali Rao.

• 18:30 - 19:30: The Future of Festivals: Alberto Barbera, Director of the Venice International Film Festival, in dialogue with Giona A. Nazzaro.

Sunday, March 13th:

• 10.30: At the boundaries of the image: The director Michelangelo Frammartino and the director of photography Renato Berta. A masterclass by Italian screenwriter and director Michelangelo Frammartino, in collaboration with CISA and moderated by the Ticinese director of photography of Il buco, Renato Berta. A courageous experimenter, Berta has shot almost 120 films with the most legendary directors of his generation in half a century of work in the world of cinema. Michelangelo Frammartino's latest work Il buco (2021) will have its Swiss premiere on Saturday, March 12 at the Palacinema at 21:00.

• 16.00: The formation of an artist: Hugo Pratt before Venice. A conversation between the Ticinese director Stefano Knuchel and the cartoonist Bepi Vigna and the screening of Knuchel's documentary Hugo in Argentina. The documentary, which was presented at the previous editions of the Venice Film Festival and the Solothurn Film Days, takes us on a marvelous cinematographic journey in the footsteps of the famous Italian and international cartoonist, illustrator and writer Hugo Pratt, whose biography Vigna has narrated in the book “La ballata di Hugo” (2021).

To enrich the program also proposals for the younger generation with the activities of Locarno Kids.

Admission is free to all screenings and meetings with the public at the 9th edition of "L’immagine e la parola" and reservation is not required. The masterclasses are also free, but participants must register in advance online.

The complete program and registration on the Locarno Film Festival website. LINK.

L’immagine e la parola and the Spring Academy are organized by the Locarno Film Festival and the CISA film school, in co-production with RSI Radiotelevisione svizzera, with the support of the Ticino Film Commission and invaluable backing from Swisscom, PalaCinema Locarno, Enjoy Arena, Hotel Du Lac, Hertz and Fondazione Majid.