Beckett, the new film by Italian director Ferdinando Cito Filomarino, starring John David Washington, Boyd Holbrook, Vicky Krieps and Academy Award winner Alicia Vikander will open the 74th edition of the Locarno Film Festival in Piazza Grande on August 4. Following its premiere at the Festival, the film will be available on Netflix from August 13.
This marks a welcome return to the Locarno Film Festival for Ferdinando Cito Filomarino, who in 2010 screened his short film Diarchia in the Pardi di domani section. Now, in 2021, the Festival’s opening night feature will be his new thriller, produced by Luca Guadagnino.
While vacationing in Greece, American tourist Beckett (John David Washington), becomes the target of a manhunt after a devastating accident. Forced to run for his life and desperate to get across the country to the American embassy and clear his name, tensions escalate as the authorities close in, political unrest, and Beckett falls even deeper into a dangerous web of conspiracy.
Artistic Director Giona A. Nazzaro: “There’s a piece of Locarno in the success story of Ferdinando Cito Filomarino. From the Pardi di domani to the Piazza Grande. The Locarno Film Festival as an incubator for talent, a training ground and finally as a launch pad for the most exciting filmmakers of the future. Beckett is a thriller that gives an original and contemporary reboot to the lessons learned from directors such as Sydney Pollack and Alan J. Pakula. An action film with a humanist dimension and intense civil engagement, here underpinned by a magisterial performance from John David Washington. Political commitment and great entertainment are the two main ingredients for a Piazza Grande that aims to surprise audiences and reassert the centrality of film in all its forms.”