The world premiere of Magari, the debut from Italian director Ginevra Elkann will usher in the 72nd edition of the Locarno Film Festival on Wednesday August 7th. The 11-day event will close on Saturday August 17th with the awards ceremony, followed by Tabi no Owari Sekai no Hajimari (To the Ends of the Earth) by Japanese director, screenwriter and author Kiyoshi Kurosawa.
Magari portrays the childhood of three children of divorced parents in the early 1980s. The cast includes Céline Sallette, Brett Gelman, Milo Roussel, Ettore Giustiniani, Oro De Commarque and Benjamin Baroche. As producer with her company Asmara Films, Ginevra Elkann was behind a number of recent quality titles such as Land (2018) by Babak Jalali, White Shadow (2013) by Noaz Deshe and Cloro (2015) by Lamberto Sanfelice, and also distributed – with Good Films – Anime Nere (2014) di Francesco Munziand Non essere cattivo (2015) by Claudio Caligari. She directed a short film, Vado a Messa (2005), that was selected for the 62nd Venice Film Festival.
The Festival will wrap up with the international premiere of Tabi no Owari Sekai no Hajimari (To the Ends of the Earth) by J-Thriller master Kiyoshi Kurosawa. This year’s Locarno Film Festival will take a bow with one of today’s greatest Japanese filmmakers: after his celebrated early hits such as Cure (1997), Kairo (2001) and Shokuzai (Penance, 2012) – plus the Cannes Festival selection Kishibe no tabi (Journey to the Shore, 2015) and Sanpo suru shinryakusha (Before We Vanish, 2017) – Kurosawa has again cast former J-pop singer Atsuko Maeda, who previously appeared in Sebunsu kôdo (Seventh Code, 2013) as well as in the film Sanpo suru shinryakusha (Before We Vanish) mentioned above, alongside actors Ryo Kase, Shôta Sometani, Adiz Radjabovand and Tokio Emoto. Filmed in Uzbekistan, Tabi no Owari Sekai no Hajimari (To the Ends of the Earth) blends a dreamlike register with burlesque as it follows variety travel show presenter Yoko and her team to the far-flung reaches of the ancient Silk Road, on a mission to catch a legendary fish.