Locarno Film Festival to Honor Marco Bellocchio

The 68th edition of the Locarno Film Festival will award the "Leopard of Honour Swisscom" to director extraordinaire, Marco Bellocchio. With this award, the festival pays tribute to an extraordinarily rich career, and affirms the strong links between Locarno and Bellocchio, first forged in 1965 with the screening in the Grand Hotel of his debut feature film, "Fists in the Pocket". The stunning anarchy of his film overwhelmed the audience, the critics and the jury, who awarded him the Vela d’argento, a success that immediately thrust him into the spotlight both in Italy and internationally.

The restored print of "Fists in the Pocket" was produced by Kavac Film, via Cineteca di Bologna at the laboratories of “L’immagine ritrovata”, with support from Giorgio Armani, and will be distributed internationally.

According to Cineuropa, the festival audience will also have an opportunity to talk to the director, who will likely be at this year's Venice Film Festival with his newest project, "La Monaca" (original name- L'ultimo vampire), and will hold a "Master Class" in the Spazio Cinema.

Check back here for news about Bellocchio's presence at the Venice Film Festival. His anticipated entry, "La Monaca" is now in post-production and stars some of his favorite players, including Roberto Herlitzka, Pier Giorgio Bellocchio, Filippo Timi and Alba Rohrwacher.

In the meantime, check out.. my Interview with Marco Bellocchio. We met last year when he was honored at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.