The eleventh edition of First Look – the Locarno Film Festival initiative showcasing films in post-production – has concluded with the announcement of its winning projects for 2022. This edition’s focus on the German cinema of the future gave the members of the jury, all of whom are the directors of major international film festivals, the chance to preview six German works-in-progress.
© Locarno Film Festival / Ti-Press, Massimo Pedrazzini
Between August 5 and 7, the six projects were presented in industry-only presentations at the Rialto theater in Muralto (Locarno), in partnership with German Films. Each WIP was introduced by its producer to a private audience of sales agents and festival programmers attending Locarno Pro, professionals upon whom the future commercial lives of the films could one day depend.
An international jury, made up of Vanja Kaludjercic (International Film Festival Rotterdam), Tricia Tuttle (BFI London Film Festival), and HUH Moonyung (Busan International Film Festival) gave out the following Awards:
Cinegrell First Look Award – post-production service worth 50,000 Euros
The jury’s statement:
“We were hugely impressed by One Last Evening, finding its story telling rich and nuanced. The film took us on a real emotional journey and the strong ensemble cast contributed to wonderfully detailed characterisations”.
Le Film Français Award - advertising services worth 5,600 euro
Kaiju Cinema Diffusion Prize - Designing of international poster worth 5,000 euro
The six works-in-progress selected for the 11th edition of First Look:
Sunday afternoon also saw the ceremony for the Alliance 4 Development Award take place. A4D, the co-development platform for film projects from Austria, Italy, France Germany and Switzerland, is an initiative possible thanks to partnerships with CNC (Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée), France; DGCA-MiC (Direzione Generale Cinema e Audiovisivo del Ministero della Cultura), Italy; FFA (Filmförderungsanstalt), Germany; the Federal Office of Culture (FOC) / MEDIA Desk Suisse, Switzerland; and OFI (Österreichisches Filminstitut), Austria and to the support of European Producers Club, Eurimages and Alpaphanda.
The Alphapanda Market Breakout Award, consisting of consultancy services to the value of 3 000 €. was given to the Austrian film project:
Mathias Noschis and Valentina Neumann (Alpaphanda):
“The Village Next to Paradise is a little gem of a project that touched us deeply thanks to Mo Harawe’s compelling artistic vision. We have no doubt that the project will have a major impact, both on the international film market and on audiences around the world”.
Locarno Pro was possible thanks to the support of the Federal Office of Culture (FOC) / MEDIA Desk Suisse.
