Locarno's festival directorIrene Bignardi promises 'a journey of exploration' for this year'sInternational Competition line-up with films from France to Vietnam, fromKazakhstan to Belgium and from South Africa to India.

'We chose the titleswhich had most to say about the tumultuous upheaval of the world today - andthe most pertinent, impertinent and interesting ways of saying it,'Bignardi commented on the selection.

No less than ten of the 18competition films come from Europe, ranging from Kenny Glenaan's Yasmin(UK/Germany) and Ayse Polat's En Garde (Germany) to Wojtek Smarzowski's TheWedding (Poland), Caterina Ruivo's Andre Valente (Portugal) andJoachim Lafosse's Folie Privee (Belgium).

Asia is well representedwith films from India (Black Friday), Vietnam (Buffalo Boy), HongKong (McDull, Prince De La Bun) and Japan (Tony Takitani), whilethis year's competition will have its first film from South Africa, IanGabriel's Forgiveness, starring Arnold Vosloo, Quanita Adams, and DeniseNewmann. The US presence is limited, though, to only one title: Zak Tucker's PosterBoy.

'It was only once we'dmade our choice that we discovered - as if by chance - that the films selectedfor the International Competition come from seventeen different countries,speak twenty-one different languages, take highly divergent cinematicapproaches, but almost all share a commitment to attempting to understand thepresent, the rationale and the non-rationale of the unbalanced world in whichwe live,' Bignardi added.

Despite increasedcompetition from Venice under its new director Marco Mueller (Bignardi'spredecessor in Locarno), the festival has eleven world premieres in itscompetition line-up. True to Locarno's remit 'to find the new voices andfilmmakers of the future', five of the competition films are firstfeatures such as Andre Valente, Poster Boy and Promised Land.

Out of competition Piazza Grande screenings include world premieres ofPatrice Leconte's Dogora and Volker Schlöndorff's Der Neunte Tag,and the international premiere of Nick Love's The Football Factory.

LOCARNO INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION

Andre Valente by Catarina Ruivo - Portugal

International sales: Gemini films

Antares by Götz Spielmann - Austria - 119 min

Int. Sales: Austrian Film Commission

Black Friday by Anurag Kashyap - India - 161 min

Production: Mid Day Multimedia Ltd.

'

Dastaneh Natamam (Story Undone) by Hassan Yektapanah -Iran/Ireland/Singapore - 84 min

Co-production: Lebrocquy Fraser Production Ltd.

En Garde by Ayse Polat - Germany - 94 min

Production and Int. Sales: X Filme creative pool GmbH

Folie Privee by Joachim Lafosse - Belgium - 67 min

Int. sales: La Big Family

Forgiveness by Ian Gabriel - South Africa - 112 min

Int. Sales: Fortissimo Films

Muoa Len Traau (Buffalo Boy) by Minh Nguyen-Vô - Belgium/Vietnam/Germany -96 min

Int. sales: Flach Pyramide Int.

Mcdull, Prince De La Bun by Toe Yuen - Hong Kong - Animation - 73 min

Int. Sales: Golden Network Asia Ltd.

Okhotnik (The Hunter) by Serik Aprymov - Khazakhstan/Japan/France/Switzerland- 90 min

Production: East Cinema, with the support of the FoundationMonteCinemaVerità

Ordo by Laurence Ferreira-Barbosa - France/Canada/Portugal - 107 min

Int. Sales: Gemini Films

Poster Boy by Zak Tucker - USA - 104 min

Production: Shallow Pictures LLC

Pourquoi (Pas) Le Bresil by Laetitia Masson - France - 92 min

Production and Int. sales: Rezo Productions

Private by Saverio Costanzo - Italy - 90 min

Production: Offiside

Promised Land by Michael Beltrami - Switzerland/Italy - 99 min

Int. Sales: Columbus Film AG

Tony Takitani by Jun Ichikawa - Japan - 75 min

Int. Sales: Celluloid Dreams

Yasmin by Kenny Glenaan - UK/Germany - 87 min

Int. Sales: MovieHouse Entertainment (UK)

Wesele (The Wedding) by Wojtek Smarzowski - Poland - 109 min

Intl sales: SPI - International Poland

PIAZZA GRANDE SCREENINGS

All The President's Men

by Alan J. Pakula - USA - 132 min, 1976

Production: Wildwood Enterprise, Warner Bros.

Appleseed

by Shinji Aramaki - Japan - Animation - 103 min

based on a manga by Masamune Shirow

voices cast Ai Kobayashi, Jurota Kosugi, Yuki Matsuoka

Production & International Sales: Micott & Basara Inc.


Cantando Dietro IParaventi

by Ermanno Olmi - 2003 - 100 min

with Bud Spencer, Jun Ichikawa, Sally Ming Zeo Ni

Production: Cinemaundici

Int. sales: Lake Shore Entertainment

Dogora

by Patrice Leconte - France - 80 min

Production: Epithete Films

Int. sales: TF1 International

Swiss distributor: Filmcoopi

Les Fautes D'orthographe

by Jean-Jacques Zilbermann - France - 90 min

with Carole Bouquet, Olivier Gourmet, Damien Jouillerot

Production: Agat Films &Cie

International Sales: Funny Balloons

The Football Factory

by Nick Love - UK - 90 min

with Danny Dyer, Frank Harper, Hassan tarner, Roland Manookian

Production: Vertigo films

International Sales: HanWay Films

The Hunting Of The President

by Harry Thomason and Nickolas Perry - USA - documentary - 89 min

Based on the New York Times Best Selling Book by Joe Conason and GeneLyons, narrated by Morgan Freeman ithPaul Begala, David Brock, John Camp, James Carville, Joe Conason, JerryFalwell, Gene Lyons, Susan McDougal ndthe appearance of Bill and Hillary Clinton (Archive)

Production: Diceburg Llc.

Int. Sales: Regent

Jeune Fille Et Les Nuages (La)

by Georges Schwizgebel - Switzerland - Animation - 4 min


Kongekabale (King's Game)

by Nikolaj Arcel - Denmark - 103min

with Anders W. Berthelsen, Søren Pilmark, Nastja Arcel

Production: Nimbus Film

Int. sales: Trust Film Sales

Neunte Tag (Der)

by Volker Schlöndorff - Germany - 97 min

with Ulrich Matthes, August Diehl, Hilmar Thate, Bibiana Beglau

Production: Provobis Film GmbH

Int. sales: Telepool GmbH

Swiss distributor: Filmcoopi

Notebook (The)

by Nick Cassavetes - USA - 123 min

with Gena Rowlands, Ryan Gosling, Rachel McAdams, James Garner

Production: New Line Cinema

Swiss Distributor: Warner Bros

Oh Happy Day

by Hella Joof - Denmark - 93 min

with Lotte Andersen, Malik Yoba

Production: Fine & Mellow Productions AS

World Sales Agent: Nordisk Film International Sales

Swiss Distributor: Ascot Elite Entertainment Group

Queimada (Burn!)

by Gillo Pontecorvo - Italy - 1969, 112 min

with Marlon Brando, Evaristo Márquez, Norman Hill, Renato Salvatori,Dana Ghia

Production: Europee Associate SAS

Samsara

by Pan Nalin - Italy/France/India/Germany- 2001, 125 min

Shawn Ku, Christy Chung, Neelesha BaVora

Production: Pandora


Seres Queridos (Only Human)

by Teresa de Pelegri and Dominic Harari - Spain/Portugal/UK/Argentina -89 min

with Norma Aleandro, Guillermo Toledo, Maria Botto, Marian Aguilera

Production: Tornasol Films

World Sales: Renaissance Films

Swiss Distributor: Frenetic

Sweet Smell Of Success

by Alexander MacKendrick - USA - 1957, 96 min

with Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, Susan Harrison, Martin Milner, BarbaraNichols

Production: United Artists

Hacala Hasurit (The Syrian Bride)

by Eran Riklis - Israel/France/Germany - 93 min

with Abbass Hiam, Khoury J. Makram, Khoury Clara, Barhoum Ashraf, SheetyEyad

Production: Eran Riklis Productions ltd (Israel)/Neue Impuls Film(Germany)/MACT Productions (France)

World Sales: TF 1 International