The Locarno Film Festival Dedicated to Kiarostami

The 69th edition of the Locarno Film Festival, one of the oldest film festivals in the world, opened on Wednesday night, August 3rd, with a screening of "The Girl with All the Gifts" by Colm McCarthy in the Piazza Grande, the city's main square. Carlo Chatrian, the artistic director of the Locarno Festival, has dedicated this year's festival to Abbas Kiarostami. In a note published in the program schedule, Chatrian wrote: "I dedicate this year's festival to Abbas Kiarostami and Michael Cimino. Not only for the emotions they gave us but also because both represent a cinema that Locarno was home to; a cinema that narrates and transforms reality and a cinema that is not afraid to think about big things even when telling small stories... a cinema that sweeps you away like a whirlwind." Chatrian's references are more towards Kiarostami's films than to Michael Cimino, the prominent American filmmaker who followed a different style and passed away about a month ago. However, Locarno can truly be considered the home of Abbas Kiarostami: "Where is the Friend's Home?" was first screened at this festival in 1989 and won the Bronze Leopard award. In fact, Locarno paved the way for the presence of post-revolutionary Iranian cinema in global festivals by showcasing Kiarostami's films as well as "The Runner" and "Water, Wind, Soil" (on the Piazza Grande screen; the largest cinema screen in Europe, which can accommodate up to eight thousand viewers outdoors). Moreover, this festival held a retrospective of Abbas Kiarostami's works in 1995, when Kiarostami had not yet won the Palme d'Or at Cannes and was not widely acclaimed. This retrospective included his first feature film, "Report," and several of his short films and documentaries from the pre-revolution years. This year, in memory of Kiarostami, "Where is the Friend's Home?" will be screened again, along with short films made in Kiarostami's workshop in Cuba, which will have a special screening session. Kiarostami had held filmmaking workshops at various festivals, and Cuba hosted one of his last ones, where the results of this workshop, including several short films supervised by Kiarostami and one short film made by him, will be shown in Locarno. However, the romantic story of Locarno's forty-year affection for Iranian cinema has not had a happy ending in recent years: the presence of Iranian cinema at this festival has been significantly limited, and since 2009, only one Iranian film has been accepted in the competition section of this festival. After years of neglecting Iranian cinema, last year, the film "We Are in Heaven" by Sina Attaiyan Dena was screened in the competition section, but this year, aside from the re-screening of "Where is the Friend's Home?", Locarno will not showcase any Iranian films (a short film titled "Chandra" by Fatemeh Ahmadi, an Iranian filmmaker residing in London, and Asmita Shrestha as a co-production from the UK, Nepal, and China will be shown in the Open Doors section). Chatrian had previously told the author that he believes the golden age of Iranian cinema has declined: "I think Iranian cinema has great talents, but perhaps in recent years they have faced difficulties in making their films or need a period of rest, but in any case, I do not live in Iran and do not know the real reason. In fact, I must say that the golden age of Iranian cinema has declined not only in Locarno but also in other festivals." Although Iranian cinema recently achieved significant success at Cannes and there is a relatively notable presence of Iranian filmmakers at next month's Venice festival, the absence of Iranian films at Locarno indicates that Chatrian still holds on to his belief from a few years ago. However, this year, an Iranian filmmaker, Rafi Pitz, is present as a judge in the main section of the festival, who participated with his latest work "My Name is Niro" at the Berlin Festival. Afghan filmmaker Shahrbanu Sadat, who participated with her film "Wolf and Dawn" in the Directors' Fortnight section at this year's Cannes, is also present as a judge in the short films section at Locarno.