Locarno StepIn Think Tank to Tackle Healthier Film Industry Workplace

On Monday’s episode of The Late Show, Stephen Colbert ripped “the Band-Aid” off, dedicating his entire opening monologue to the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, and the United States’ withdrawal.

Emiliano Granada Directed by Elene Naveriani and written alongside brother Sandro Naveriani, “Wet Sand” world premieres today in the Cineasti del Presente competition at Switzerland’s Locarno Festival.Very much in line with the section’s mission statement, the Swiss-Georgian co-production is a vibrant example of emerging talent that has quickly grown into versatile auteurs with a striking control of their craft.“Wet Sand” is Naveriani’s second feature and, beyond its craft and structure,

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentBuenos Aires-based Compañía de Cine has swooped on sales rights to “Mostro,” a trenchant take on one consequence of violence in Mexico: Its thousands of women who suddenly join the ranks of Mexico’s “disappeared.”The boutique sales company is introducing the feature to buyers at this week’s Locarno Film Festival where it world premiered Wednesday in the Swiss Fest’s Cineasti del Presente section.The first feature of Mexico’s José Pablo Escamilla,

The Strategic Organizing Center (SOC), a federation of labor unions repping close to 4 million workers, Wednesday called on the Federal Trade Commission to reject Amazon’s proposed $8.45 billion acquisition of MGM as a newly vigilant FTC in in the process of scrutinizing the deal that was announced in May.

Will Thorne Staff WriterThere is a lot that Thai director Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke cannot say about his new project “A Useful Ghost.” But then again, when audiences in Thailand see the film, they will know exactly what it means.Set primarily in a family home, “A Useful Ghost” tells the story of a couple, March and Nat, and their young son Dot. March runs a vacuum cleaner factory, but ironically, one day Nat dies from a respiratory disease caused by air pollution in the area.

Sometimes, you can just feel the electricity come off actors as they rise through the ranks and become superstars. You just know that at any moment, they’re going to have that breakout role that catapults them to the top.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentValentin Merz’s “De Noche los Gatos Son Pardos” scooped the biggest prize, the Cinegrell First Look Award, at this year’s Locarno Festival First Look pix-in-post competition, one of its industry centerpieces.Now in its tenth edition, First Look’s focus this year was Switzerland with a jury and industry audience given the chance to preview six upcoming Swiss feature films at various stages of rough or final cut.The Cinegrell First Look Award

Will Thorne Staff WriterIt’s been a challenging year-and-a-half for co-productions between Switzerland the U.K., but there appears to be cause for optimism.Directors of media funds from both countries, as well as a pair of producers, gathered at a Locarno Film Festival panel to discuss co-financing and co-production opportunities between the two countries, and to try and entice the room to share in that positive outlook.Neil Peplow, BFI director of industry and international affairs, was at the

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentThe Locarno Film Festival’s annual StepIN think tank dedicated to pressing issues faced by the independent film community saw a select group of mostly European industry executives thrash out some of the root causes that can make the film industry a toxic environment to work in and discuss ideas for positive practices that can hopefully prompt some change.“The film industry is a particularly demanding environment, obsessed with success and dominated by

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentFast emerging as a go-to company for high-profile Chilean and women director titles, Buenos Aires boutique agency Meikincine has swooped on “My Brothers Dream Awake,” ahead of its world premiere at Switzerland’s Locarno Festival on Saturday.Competing in Cineasti del Presente, a section reserved for emerging filmmakers from around the world, “My Brothers Dream Awake” marks the second feature outing for young Chilean Mapuche cineaste Claudia

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorStefan Ruzowitzky, who won an Oscar for “The Counterfeiters,” is at the Locarno Film Festival on Friday for the world premiere in the iconic Piazza Grande venue of his crime thriller “Hinterland.” He speaks to Variety about the film, which Beta Cinema is selling worldwide.“Hinterland” centers on a former Austrian prisoner of war, Peter Perg, who returns home to Vienna in 1920. Everything has changed.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentNew Locarno Film Festival artistic director Giona A. Nazzaro, who is the former head of the Venice Film Festival’s Critics’ Week, is starting to put his stamp on the Swiss fest dedicated to indie cinema with a lineup comprising comedies and genre films alongside more straightforward auteur cinema, driven by a desire to make the selection “more audience friendly,” as he puts it.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentHigh-flying Spanish outfit Filmika Galaika has boarded Gabriel Azorín’s poetic, time-blending “Last Night I Conquered the City of Thebes”(“Anoche conquisté Tebas”), a buzz title at the Locarno Festival Match Me forum.A networking platform for up-and-coming producers, and a few who have pretty much arrived, Match Me runs on-site at Switzerland’s Locarno Festival over Aug.

Will Thorne Staff WriterAt this year’s edition of Locarno’s Alliance 4 Development, both the future of the selected nine projects, and the co-production market as a whole, will be on the table.The Locarno Film Festival program, which facilitates international co-production for projects from France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland, skipped a year due to COVID-19, but is back stronger than ever.“We received more than 70 submissions from the four countries,” says program manager Francesca

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentIceland’s Pegasus Pictures and sales agent Alief have just dropped a first trailer for “Cop Secret,” a full-on pulse pounding cop actioner that world premieres in main competition at the 74th Locarno Film Festival.Alief President Brett Walker will introduce the propulsive, high testosterone movie to buyers at Locarno Pro, the Swiss festival’s robust industry program which kicks off Friday.The movie tips its hat to ‘80s and ‘90s buddy cop action

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefMyanmar director Maung Sun says he fears for the future of his writing and producing partner Ma Aeint who now faces charges brought by the military junta.Ma Aeint was arrested in early June in Yangon and was held for a month in judicial detention. She has since been transferred to the notorious Insein Prison, where she is being treated as a political prisoner.

Will Thorne Staff WriterThe latest edition of the Locarno Film Festival’s Open Doors section, which highlights new projects and fresh voices from Asia, feels like a culmination in more ways than one.After an entirely remote affair last time around, Open Doors is adopting a hybrid in-person and online approach this time around, welcoming more than half of the filmmakers and producers to the Swiss fest.

Christopher Vourlias Vienna-based sales outfit Square Eyes has acquired Saeed Taji Farouky’s “A Thousand Fires,” which will open the Locarno Film Festival’s Critics’ Week section.Set in the Magway region of Myanmar, which is home to one of the oldest oil industries in the world, “A Thousand Fires” is a portrait of a family in flux and a story of intergenerational conflict and compromise.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentAlief, the London-based sales agent and production outfit, has swooped on bad ass action comedy “Cop Secret” in the build up to the movie’s world premiere at August’s Locarno Film Festival.Brett Walker, Alief president, will introduce the propulsive, high testosterone movie to buyers at Locarno Pro, the Swiss festival’s robust industry program, where it is sure to get tongues wagging.While big fests are embracing genre, few selections to date offer

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentSabine Gisiger’s “The Mies van der Rohes,” Steven Vit’s “My Old Man” and Caterina Mona’s “Semret” feature in this year’s pix-in-post showcase First Look, one of the industry highlights of the Locarno Film Festival, which focuses for the first time on movies from Switzerland.The films are joined in First Look by Valentin Merz’s “De Noche los Gatos Son Pardos,” Leon Schwitter’s “Reduit” and Jackie Brutsche’s “Las Toreras” in a six-title spread which