Superstitious people claim that leap years are unlucky, but Locarno Shorts Weeks rejects that notion and shines with optimism. We don’t neglect the opportunity to present an even richer and more varied selection of short films than we did in previous iterations: 29 singular short films for the 29 days of February in 2024. These films can be viewed for free on the website of the Locarno Film Festival and directly on Vimeo. Now six years old, Locarno Shorts Weeks draws heavily from the titles of the 2022 editions of Pardi di Domani and Open Doors, ambitiously striving again to connect films with ever more enthusiastic audiences just waiting to be surprised and delighted by what they find. It is a world tour that criss-crosses geographies and sensibilities: from the subtle restlessness of North American cinema (Daron, Daron Colbert; At Little Wheelie Three Days Ago) to the distinct universes of Latin America (including, among others, the Pardino d'Oro winner Soberane), passing through the ever-surprising homegrown productions of Asia (the cultural comedy of Dancing Colors, the mad whirlwind of Mini-mini-pokke no okina niwa de [In the Big Yard Inside the Teeny-Weeny Pocket]) and the Middle East (L'Ombre des papillons), and finally to the multiform variety of European cinema, which we do not neglect.
In this sense, Locarno Shorts Weeks is also intended to be a world tour through the varied genres of cinema, a journey that interweaves pure fiction (the realism of Faccia di cuscino, the alienated sci-fi of Der Molchkongress) with the myriad forms of the documentary (the observation of Lopte [Balls], the meta reflection of Buurman Abdi [Neighbour Abdi]), animation (Misaligned) with experimental cinema (Lake of Fire or Hardly Working – the winner of the European Short Film at the European Film Awards 2023). It is a terrain of discovery and confrontation that juxtaposes the emerging voices of some of the great directors of the future – yes, we're willing to bet on that! – with the visionary artistic scope of established auteurs, including the master Darezhan Omirbaev (spoiler: his Songy Seans [Last Screening] is a masterpiece), the urgent cinema of Nicolas Klotz and Elisabeth Perceval (Chant pour la ville enfouie), the political archives of Kamal Aljafari (Paradiso, XXXI, 108), the relentless cinematic research of Francesco Montagner (Asterión) – Pardo d’Oro Concorso Cineasti del Presente in 2021 for Brotherhood – and the duo Caroline Poggi and Jonathan Vinel (Il faut regarder le feu ou brûler dedans). We look forward to welcoming you to the world of the Locarno Shorts Weeks.
- Eddie Bertozzi, Head of Pardi di Domani Selection Committee
