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66th Locarno Film Festival
On 7 August, on the Piazza Grande, Alain Berset opens the first edition directed by Carlo Chatrian. The festival, he says, is “the gold prospector’s sieve”. He ends with the American critic Roger Ebert, honoured at Locarno this year: there must be another world somewhere, “a world where Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers live”.
At Monte Verità, the same evening, he evokes the community that lived there until 1914, mocked by the press, several of whose ideals have become the norm: “Artists are often condemned to be right before everyone else.” Before the Leopard Club, he lists the Swiss contradictions, an island of stability under international fire, pragmatic and given to myth-making, and suggests inviting Robert Redford, while pointing out that the Federal Council has never discussed it.
On 8 August, at a press conference, he launches the discussion on a national cultural policy involving the Confederation, the cantons and the cities; the FOC announces stronger support for screenwriting together with the SRG SSR and easier co-productions. On the 10th, in Ascona, he meets European Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou: a positive assessment of Swiss participation in the MEDIA programme, which Switzerland wishes to renew.
Wednesday 7 August 2013 — Locarno and Ascona
- Opening speech of the festival on the Piazza Grande
- Speech at the Monte Verità reception
Thursday 8 August 2013 — Locarno
- Press conference on cultural policy and cinema
Friday 9 August 2013 — Locarno
- Speech before the Leopard Club
Saturday 10 August 2013 — Ascona
- Talks with Androulla Vassiliou, European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth
Speeches on this site
- Ouverture du 66e Festival du film de Locarno (French-language page)
- Festival de Locarno : réception du Monte Verità (French-language page)
- Festival de Locarno : rencontre du Leopard Club (in German, French-language page)
Sources