Film projects looking for funding or partners took the stage at day 2 of Locarno Pro, the industry strand of the Locarno Film Festival, whose 79th edition is running through Aug. 15, on Friday. The film showcase covered a wide range of topics and themes, including a feminist take on the Indian Kamasutra, a relationship story involving an android and the story of a man turning into a fish – yes, a fish!
In total, 11 projects selected for the annual Alliance 4 Development, the co-development platform for film projects from Austria, France, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland, were in the spotlight, with directors and producers presenting them.
Here is a look at takeaways from their pitches.
Cuoro Mattedirected by Tamer Ruggli, written by Ruggli and Joanne Giger produced by Francine Lusser and G.rard Monier of Tipimages Production. Switzerland
Synopsis: “Bienne, 1969. Matteo, 17, dreams of becoming an actor and escaping his father and a grey industrial town. Sent to Ticino for the harvest, he discovers a vibrant, sensual world with Lucio and Alba, awakening desire and identity. At home, his mother Giusi, trapped in an oppressive marriage, begins her own quiet emancipation. Carried by Italian songs, their parallel journeys intertwine in a queer and feminist coming-of-age musical about freedom, love and reinvention.”The Pitch: “Inspired by my father’s Ticino roots, Cuore Matto explores a son and his mother’s parallel emancipation in late-1960s Switzerland, shaped by social tensions and migration,” Ruggli says. “Between the industrial city of Bienne and the sensual South, the film draws on personal memory and historical reinterpretation. It blends melodrama and musical; songs give voice to what cannot be said, bridging past and present and revealing the characters’ inner desires.”
