Locarno 2018

With a playful 13.5-hour multigenre film-of-films from Mariano Llinas, an ultra-sharp new Hong Sangsoo, and an array of other experiments, the Locarno Festival this year maintained its position as a reliable source of vitality in the cinematic landscape. The 71st edition also marked an end of an era, in one respect at least, as artistic director Carlo Chatrian will be moving on to the coveted top post at the Berlinale. But there was plenty to talk about in the stimulating lineup, which has a way of trickling into other festivals of note in the coming year: already, Ray & Liz, La Flor, and Too Old to Die Young have been announced in the main slate of the New York Film Festival. In Locarno, I discussed the films on offer with regular FC contributor Jordan Cronk, founder/director of Acropolis and Locarno in Los Angeles, and one of the Locarno Critics Academy participants, Becca Voelcker, a PhD student in Film and Visual Studies at Harvard University and freelance film critic and programmer.