2023-08-07 17:41:59
A female worldview shaped the first half of the 76th Locarno International Film Festival. Thanks to strong women, German cinema also has a chance of winning an award.
Locarno.
Female power on Lake Maggiore: Female protagonists in films by female directors dominated the first half of the 76th International Film Festival in Locarno, which will take place until Saturday.
The heroines and anti-heroines of many feature films in the competition for the main prize, the Golden Leopard, showing 17 works from all over the world, impress with great power. They often use this wisely in the fight against violent male dominance. The variety of genres inspires. From comedy to horror shocker to drama, there is a stimulating variety of narrative forms.
Diverse fates of women
Outstanding in the international competition: “Animal”. Greek writer and director Sofia Exarchou explores the everyday life of entertainers at a holiday resort in this feature film. The troupe is led by Kalia (Dimitra Vlagopoulou), in her late thirties. Various incidents force them to ask themselves whether it would not be better to do without one or the other euro and lead a dignified life in return.
Also captivating: Agathe (Renée Soutendijk), the main character in the drama “Sweet Dreams” by the Amsterdam-based Bosnian author and director Ena Sendijarevic. Agathe lives in 1900 as the wife of a Dutch plantation owner in the Indonesian archipelago. Her husband generally sees locals and women as inferior. But Agathe finds a way to escape the tyranny.
The Dutchwoman Renée Soutendijk, who became a European star four decades ago in the German thriller “Abwärts”, has so far been considered, along with the Greek Dimitra Vlagopoulou, as one of the most promising contenders for the award for best actress in this competition. They are joined by Romanian Ilinca Manolache in the new film by her compatriot Radu Jude. He became famous in 2021 when he received the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival for “Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn”.
A forbidden love impresses
In “Do Not Expect Too Much of the End of the World” Radu Jude shows the everyday life of young women in the time of so-called socialism and today. The central figure is Angela, played by Ilinca Manolache. She is exploited by an international corporation as an assistant in a film production. The film itself stays on the surface. But Ilinca Manolache’s portrait of Angela makes a lasting impression.
The highlight of the festival so far has been Icelandic 26-year-old Isold Halldórudóttir with her acting debut in the lead role in the drama “Touched”. With enormous intensity and sensitivity, she embodies Maria, a young nurse who falls in love with a paraplegic patient. The consequences of this “forbidden love” are as unpredictable as they are drastic.
Isold Halldórudóttir (l) as Maria and Stavros Zafeiris as Alex in a scene from the film “Touched” by director Claudia Rorarius.
“Touched” by the German author and director Claudia Rorarius is shown in the young talent competition “Cineasti del presente” (“Filmmakers of the present). An unusual love story of amazing truthfulness. Despite some very violent sex scenes, the film captivates, above all with quiet means. The story worms its way into the hearts of the viewers, so to speak, and that’s exactly why it’s unforgettable.Many expect the film to be at least one of the prizes in this competition.
In the main competition, the feature film “Stepne” (“Steppe”) by the Ukrainian director and screenwriter Maryna Vroda, which was shot with German producers’ money, for example from rbb, has a chance of winning an award. In strict image sequences, the film illuminates the legacy of the Soviet era in today’s Ukraine, far from the war in the barren country. Excitement and demand are cleverly interwoven. Traditionally, Locarno likes to award this mixture. The prizes will be awarded on the evening of August 12th during a gala under the starry sky. (dpa)
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