Locarno Film Festival is one of the oldest film festivals in the world, next to the festivals in Cannes, Venice, and Karlovy Vary. Every year, the festival gathers stars, industry representatives, and journalists from around the world. It is one of the most important events on the global festival map. This year’s edition was held from 4 to 14 August.
La Semaine de la Critique (Critics’ Week) is an independent section of the festival co-organised with the Swiss Association of Film Journalists since 1990. Only seven films were shown in the competition, including three Polish ones: “Bucolic” by Karol Pałka, “Walk with Angels” by Tomasz Wysokiński, and Paweł Łoziński’s winning “The Balcony Movie”.
The Grand Prix-winning documentary is a record of the director’s long-term observations of passers-by from the first floor of his flat. The author decided to stop and wait for the world to come to him. He stood on the balcony with his camera for two years and tried to record anyone walking under it. These meetings have been turned into a film about people and what they wanted to say about themselves. And about a curious director. I was amazed at how little I know about people. Almost nobody is what they seem. Every person carries their own riddles and secrets. They can’t be easily labelled. Life can’t be imagined.
You can find out more about the festival on its official website.