The Locarno Film Festival has announced the lineup for its 71st edition, which includes two Latin American films in the main competition: La Flor by Argentine director Mariano Llinás and Tarde para morir joven / Late to Die Young by Chilean director Dominga Sotomayor.
Llinás' epic film with a running time of 14 hours—the longest Argentine film in history—is having its international premiere at the Swiss film festival after it had won the top award for Best Film at the Buenos Aires International Film Festival, BAFICI. Llinás' follow up to his also epic Extraordinary Stories includes six stories—four incomplete, a fifth one with a conclusion, and a sixth one with an ending but no beginning—screened in three parts. The film stars Elisa Carricajo, Valeria Correa, Pilar Gamboa, Laura Paredes playing different roles as they grow older during the mammoth film.
Having its world premiere, Sotomayor's third film—a co-production between Chile, Brazil, Argentina, the Netherlands, and Qatar— is set in Chile during the summer of 1990 and follows a small group of families living in an isolated community right below the Andes, among dry dirt roads and dusty trees, building a new world away from the excesses of the distant city. Sixteen-year-old Sofía and Lucas, and 10-year-old Clara struggle with parents, first loves, and fears, while they prepare a big party for New Year’s Eve with the hope of some new beginnings.
Other Latin American selections include the Argentine film Immersed Family / Familia sumergida by María Alché, the Mexican-Canadian co-production Faust by Andrea Bussmann, Mexico/Canada), and the Brazilian film Long Way Home by André Novais Oliveira in the Cineasti del Presente competition.
The Colombian film Birds of Passage by Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra will have a special outdoor screening at the Piaza Grande, while Sedução da Carne by Brazilian filmmaker Júlio Bressane will be the only Latin American contender in the Signs of Life competition.
Rounding up the Latin American selection at this year's Locarno Film Festival are The Labyrinth by Colombian filmmaker Laura Huertas Millán, Big Bridge by Simón Vélez, (Colombia/Argentina), and Violeta + Guillermo by Óscar Vincentelli (Spain/Venezuela) in the Pardi Di Domani international contest.
The 71st edition of the Locarno Film Festival will take place August 1-11 in Switzerland.
