The festival is Piazza Grande. Every summer Locarno is there, looking up, between a sea of yellow and black chairs and a canvas as tall as a building. In the middle, like a black monolith, is the most iconic projection booth. And so, in a year that can't fill the Piazza with films and people, the Festival and La Posta have decided to use a different kind of image, without movement. Those images are part of an exhibit, Il Festival è in Piazza. Rivivi una magia lunga 73 anni which will recount decades of history for the entire duration of Locarno 2020. It's also the history of Piazza Grande, from when it first hosted that canvas filled with cinematic emotions, back in 1971.
The images come from those who, every year for eleven days, run across the city with their cameras to capture the moments of those hectic August days and hand them over to history. A fraction of a second illustrates a lifetime, that of the Piazza and the Festival. In cooperation with La Posta, the Locarno Film Festival has chosen the most iconic snapshots from a long history of people, places and encounters.
The photos will remain illuminated, much like the sleepless Piazza, thanks to innovative solar energy devices provided with the support of Ente Regionale per lo Sviluppo Locarnese Vallemaggia, as a sign of the Locarno Film Festival's consistent commitment to the future and sustainability. This initiative is possible thanks to the cooperation of Marco Abram, Loreta Daulte, Alberto Flammer, Massimo Pedrazzini and Ti-Press, represented by Samuel Golay, Gabriele Putzu and Carlo Reguzzi.
