Kamal Aljafari at 75th Locarno Film Festival

“Paradiso, XXXI, 108”

The festival this year celebrated its 75th anniversary and was very well attended after lifting all restrictions.

I participated in many Industry meetings of the festival and also of the “Open Doors” initiative - where I met festival directors such as Vanja Kaludjercic the director of Rotterdam International Film Festival, and also film funders such as Teresa Hoefert de Turégano from MBB Berlin. Also I had several encounters with the young filmmakers of the Pardi di Domani, among them students of the DFFB in Berlin, who had a film at the Pardi di Domani made by Iranian German director Hoda Taheri. Other films I watched and also had the opportunity to meet the directors, such as Helena Wittmann who’s film Human Flowers of Flesh played in the International Competition. I watched many of the films in the program where my film was screened, and also saw several films in the retrospective of Douglas Sirk. The festival offered amazing opportunities to meet colleagues from the industry and to discover new films and new directors. It was very helpful and inspiring to travel to Locarno and be part of the festival.  

Finally the audience of Locarno is very engaged and after each screening the festival organized Q&A with the directors and also more in depth meetings with the entire teams of the films.