Locarno 2024: IFFR-backed titles in competition

Four IFFR-backed titles will have their world premieres at the Locarno Film Festival, which takes place from 7 to 17 August 2024. Titles by Ala Eddine Slim, Wang Bing, Tato Kotetishvili and Jessica Sarah Rinland feature in the festival’s two competition lineups, supported by IFFR’s Hubert Bals Fund and presented at IFFR Pro’s CineMart and Darkroom.

Concorso Internazionale

Titles in the festival’s flagship competition compete for the prestigious Pardo d’Oro. 

Agora dir. Ala Eddine Slim, Tunisia, France, Saudi Arabia, Qatar

Ala Eddine Slim, whose award-winning, atmospherically charged titles The Last of Us (2016) and Tlamess (2019) both screened at IFFR, presents his latest Agora, which was supported for post-production through the HBF+Europe scheme. In the film, which takes place in the dreams of a dog and a crow, three missing people mysteriously return to a remote town in Tunisia.

Update: Agora was awarded the Pardo Verde, annually presented to “the film that best reflects an ecological issue, offering audiences new and challenging interpretations that inspire change.”

Youth (Hard Times) dir. Wang Bing, France, Luxembourg, Netherlands 

Last year, filmmaker Wang Bing presented the monumental documentary Youth (Spring) in competition at Cannes, depicting the gruelling work of young textile workers in the Chinese city of Zhili, 150 km from Shanghai. He continues his compelling portrait with Youth (Hard Times). The project was supported by the Hubert Bals Fund for development, and as a Dutch co-production through the NFF+HBF Co-production Scheme. 

Update: Youth (Hard Times) received a special mention during the presentation of the awards in the Concorso Internazionale.

Concorso Cineasti del Presente

First or second features can compete in the Cineasti del Presente competition for “radical, uncompromising, adventurous” cinema.

HOLY ELECTRICITY dir. Tato Kotetishvili, Georgia, Netherlands

From Georgia comes Tato Kotetishvili’s debut HOLY ELECTRICITY: a darkly comedic tale of LED crucifix salesmen in Tbilisi. The film was presented in IFFR Pro’s work-in-progress programme Darkroom at IFFR 2023, after it had been presented at CineMart 2021 as part of the BoostNL programme.

The project was supported through Development Support from the Hubert Bals Fund, and later with HBF+Europe: Post-production funds. The filmmaker’s charming short, Ogasavara, was presented at IFFR 2016. 

Before its Darkroom presentation, we spoke to HOLY ELECTRICITY co-producer Ineke Smits. Read it below.

Update: Tato Kotetishvili won the Pardo d’Oro – Concorso Cineasti del Presente for HOLY ELECTRICITY.

Monólogo colectivo dir. Jessica Sarah Rinland, Argentina, United Kingdom 

In a community of zoos and animal rescue centres across Argentina, filmmaker Jessica Sarah Rinland presents a tapestry of intimate and fragmented moments that ruminate on care and captivity. The project was supported by the Hubert Bals Fund for development. 

Elsewhere at Locarno

Paraguayan filmmaker Paz Encina’s Tiger Award-winning and HBF-supported EAMI will feature in the Open Doors Screenings, with the programme in this cycle focusing on Central America, the Caribbeans and South America. 

Payal Kapadia, the Indian filmmaker behind the IFFR-supported Cannes Grand Prix-winning All We Imagine as Light sits on the jury for Concorso Internazionale. Costa Rican filmmaker Kim Torres (Si no ardemos cómo iluminar la noche, HBF Development Support) and Brazilian filmmaker Leonardo Martinelli (Fantasma Neon, HBF Development Support) are both selected for the Filmmakers Academy.

The HBF+Europe programmes are supported by Creative Europe MEDIA