The Locarno Film Festival 2017 in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland celebrated its 70th anniversary this year.
Attending the festival for the first time, I was impressed by the easy-going, pleasant and arty atmosphere of the festival, its lovely colors and marvellous setting of the old town of Locarno.
The city was decorated with leo print since a leopard is the symbol of this annual film event and actors and producers get “Golden Leopard” awards. The absolute highlight was Piazza Grande – the main square of Locarno that turns into an open-air cinema every year. Yellow chairs, giant white screen, night sky full of stars and beautiful colorful buildings that surround the square and on which some films’ scenes and trailers were projected made an unforgettable open air cinema feeling.
I attended the Moët & Chandon Excellence Award 2017. This award recognizes and honors the creativity, talent and exceptional work of outstanding international actors and actresses. This year, Mathieu Kassovitz was honored with the award, for his role in Sparring, coming to cinemas in Switzerland end of the year. French multi-talent Kassovitz has gained much international respect for his outstanding work as a director, screenwriter, producer, editor and actor. In Sparring Kassovitz plays a 40 year-old professional boxer who has lost more fights than he has won. However, before hanging up his gloves for good, he accepts a dangerous offer that changes his life forever.
After the award we enjoyed the champagne Moët and watched the movie Sparring that I would recommend to anyone!
The Locarno Film Festival 2017 is a perfect mix of glamour, art house movies, street bars and one of the kind open-air cinema!
