Giona A. Nazzaro on Why Locarnos Competition Features First Works Solely by Female Filmmakers and No U.S. Titles

New films from well-known auteurs such as Hong Sang-soo, Wang Bing and Ben Rivers will compete for the Golden Leopard against potential discoveries by newcomers and lesser known helmers in a competition that Locarno Film Festival artistic director Giona A. Nazzaro has called “a mosaic that reflects the multiple forms of contemporary cinema.” Interestingly, all of the four first works in the 17-title competition are directed by women. Nazzaro spoke to Variety about his choices for what looks like his most ambitious edition. Talk to me about your opener, Italian director Gianluca Iodice’s “Le déluge” on the last days of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette before their execution, with France’s Mélanie Laurent and Guillaume Canet, who will be honored. That was a no-brainer. It’s a hotly anticipated film, the second work of an Italian director who made a strong debut with a very personal and powerful film about [Italian protofascist poet] Gabriele d’Annunzio. This film has a strong contemporary vibe about what it means when history comes knocking at your door and you don’t necessarily understand what is happening to you. That’s the main attraction of the film. Plus the performances of the two protagonists are terrific. It’s very difficult to act in a period drama with costumes and wigs and so on, and still be convincing in a very contemporary way. Popular on Variety “Le déluge” is playing on the Piazza Grande, as is Paz Vega’s directorial debut “Rita” set against the backdrop of Spain going nuts over the European soccer championship. Pretty timely. Can you tell me more? Well, it’s actually a very intimate film. It’s also a very personal debut. And coming from a superstar like Paz Vega – whose name is associated with films by Almodovar or cult movies such as “Lucia y el Sexo” – this is even more significant because she comes out as a true filmmaker. Often when a star goes behind the camera [and also stars in the film] she tries to make the most of it for herself. But this is truly a story in service of the characters. Paz Vega does what great filmmakers do. She becomes invisible in service of the story. The competition has four first works, all by female directors. Does that say something about the current state of indie movies directed by women? Well, compared with last year we received fewer submissions by female directors. On the other hand, we worked on the selection. Not by trying to smooth out this unbalance, or trying to fish for quotas or whatnot. I know this is a slippery slope. We still considered entries film by film [based purely on merit]. As it happened, some of the more convincing films were directed by women. For instance, the film “Toxic” [by Lithuanian director Saulė Bliuvaitė]; or “Fire of Wind” [by Portuguese director Marta Mateus]; or the Italian film “Weightless” by Sara Fgaier; or – and this is not a first feature – “Mothers Don’t” by Spain’s Mar Coll, these are among the strongest entries in the international competition. You have no U.S. movies in competition. Does that say something about the state of indie cinema in America? No, it’s not like that. We have an American film in the Cineasti del Presente section, the first film by Courtney Stephens, “Invention.” And we have American movies spread throughout the selection, of course. As for the competition, it’s true, we don’t have a film from the U.S. We had one last year. The thing is that most American independent filmmakers, they look for a world premiere in a U.S. festival, which makes sense for them in terms of seeking sales, a distributor, and release strategies. Also, you have heavy hitters from the U.S. industry coming, namely – just to name a couple – “Pulp Fiction” producer Stacey Sher and “Star Wars” sound designer Ben Burtt. Clearly, the festival is very connected to the U.S. industry. We are absolutely closely connected to the U.S.! And I say this in no way minimizing the role that the U.S. industry is currently playing. It’s simply that our competition is all world premieres. We watched a lot of films, and it just happened that this year we don’t have an entry from the U.S. But we have the Columbia Pictures retrospective, [titled “The Lady With the Torch –– The Centenary of Columbia Pictures”]. And I think there are a lot of films in the Columbia retro that even American audiences haven’t seen yet. Also, I want to point out that, if I’m not mistaken, we are the first festival to give a career award to a sound editor, sound engineer, and sound creator such as Ben Burtt. I think it’s the first time that a creator who deals with sound is being honored with a major festival award. I think that’s something to be proud of.