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The Locarno Film Festival award dedicated to personalities capable of conveying the love of cinema to younger viewers is back. For its second edition, the Locarno Kids Award la Mobiliare will be awarded to Gitanjali Rao, a director and animator whose works are marking a new path for animated storytelling by poetically blending the artistic gesture of hand drawing with new technologies. Gitanjali Rao opened the 74th Locarno Film Festival with the short film Tomorrow My Love (2021), while her latest feature, Bombay Rose, a poignant fable about the value of freedom presented at the International Critic’s Week at the 2019 Venice Film Festival, is the first Indian animated film to be released on Netflix.
The award ceremony on Monday, August 8 in Piazza Grande will be followed by a screening of her animated short film Printed Rainbow, winner of three awards at the 2006 Cannes Semaine de la Critique and later shortlisted for the 2008 Oscars.
Giona A. Nazzaro, artistic director of the Locarno Film Festival: " Gitanjali Rao is undoubtedly one of the most unique and original voices from the Indian continent in recent years. To honor her with the Locarno Kids Awards la Mobiliare means rewarding the talent of an innovative and original artist whose work has come to the attention of audiences worldwide in just a few years, while celebrating the best in contemporary creativity.”
As usual, the appointment with the youngest audience will start as early as the Prefestival evening for families on August 2, presented by la Mobiliare and with free admission. The Piazza Grande will offer the international premiere of Interdit aux chiens et aux Italiens (No Dogs or Italians Allowed) by Alain Ughetto, a fascinating stop motion animation produced by France, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium and Portugal. The film tells the true story of Cesira and Luigi, a pair of Italian emigrants who fled the misery of the Italian alpine valleys in the 1920s to start a family in France. A story therefore that also dialogues well with the typical migratory past of Canton Ticino. Screenings dedicated to the youngest audience will continue throughout the Festival and will end on Sunday, August 14 with the usual family film will be shown in Piazza Grande in collaboration with Cinemagia (ggl).
To complete the Locarno Kids program, during the Festival will be proposed a series of workshops organized with the most important territorial entities related to education and cultural mediation, including SUPSI's Department of Formation and Learning (DFA), Castellinaria – Festival del cinema giovane, LAC edu, Cinemagia (ggl), RSI, the LernFilm Festival, and the Magic Lantern.
New to this edition will be the first Ticino edition of Atelier du Futur, a project born as a result of the social engagement by la Mobiliare that will be held at Villa San Quirico in Minusio.
Here for more information on workshops and registration.
In addition to la Mobiliare, the project's Main partner, Locarno Kids is also made possible thanks to Società Elettrica Sopracenerina (SES), the Manawa Foundation, Beisheim Stiftung, Stiftung Accentus, and Volkart Stiftung.
The 75th Locarno Film Festival will be held August 3-13 2022 and will be a celebratory, comprehensive and unrestricted edition.