Mariëtte Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian announcing this year’s Competition & Encounters line up on Monday
While many of us may be concentrating on the awards announcements, the Berlin Film Festival reminds us where it all starts from, and why these worldwide events are so important. Dare I say, more than the awards…
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Alain Delon, photo courtesy of the Festival de Cannes
As a young girl, I remember watching anything that had Alain Delon in it. I had a super crush on him and, lucky me, no film of his was deemed inappropriate by my parents. So along with Luchino Visconti’s ‘The Leopard’ and ‘Rocco and his Brothers’, I also caught Delon in films like ‘The Swimming Pool’, ‘Zorro’ and yes, even ‘The Concorde… Airport ‘79’. In fact, from the latter I required that a friend of the family who knew how to knit make me a royal blue crew neck wool sweater that looked just like his. I would find you a photo but I would have to watch that entire film all over again and well, I’ve moved on from my pre-pubescent crush. And my taste in film has highly improved.
But Alain Delon remains the fascinating man, the sultry sex symbol that could even steal women away from Mick Jagger. And this year’s he’s the Festival de Cannes honorary Palme d’Or recipient. Kudos to the festival for finally getting the reclusive actor to accept their coveted lifetime award.
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A still from 'M' by Yolande Zauberman, with Menahem Lang on the right
As I sat for breakfast this morning with Meredith Taylor, a fellow writer, she said something that struck me, because it's so true.
"Before I started coming to Locarno, I would look at their yellow and black logo and think, it must be a chic and exclusive festival for true film lovers." I paraphrase a bit but you get the message. In fact, coming personally to the Locarno Festival for the first time last year, I too felt that they constantly and continuously impressed me with the quality of the films they select, but also the incredible devotion the festival has to the cinematic art. It's true, it is chic -- I mean just look at Meg Ryan in her white dress against that backdrop on this website's Homepage -- it is exclusive, yet totally democratic and wonderfully interactive. The only thing that is requested for you to join this club too is a love, a true passion and devotion to cinema. Wow. What's there not to love in a festival like this?!
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Carlo Chatrian, artistic director of the Locarno Festival and Ted Hope
A great film festival for me is defined not only by the quality of films I get to watch but also the meetings and chance encounters that happen along the way. In a queue waiting for a film to start, sitting in the lobby of a hotel waiting for an interview and sometimes, just stopping for a whole hour or two in the midst of the hectic festival schedule makes all the sense in the world.
I tried this yesterday afternoon and went to visit a friend in the restaurant of The Belvedere hotel, a good while after lunch and as interview junkets were being conducted all around me. It turned out to be the best decision of the day.
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