Giona Nazzaro: Last News

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentThe Locarno Film Festival recently announced a complete retro dedicated to Douglas Sirk, 35 years after the death of the director best known for melodramas made in Hollywood in the 1940s and 1950s, such as “Magnificent Obsession” and “Written on the Wind,” that aims to provide a fresh critical interpretation of his work.Sirk, who was born in Denmark and worked in Germany, which he left for Hollywood during Hitler’s rise to power, later returned to Europe and eventually retired in Switzerland.Among his most prominent fans were late great German filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Bernardo Bertolucci.For the first time, Sirk’s filmography will be reviewed in the light of unpublished documents made available by the director’s family through the Douglas Sirk Foundation and preserved since 2012 at the Cinémathèque Suisse, broadening the perspective on this major auteur. Variety spoke to Locarno’s artistic director Giona A.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Surprise! Legendary director Barbet Schroeder, in Locarno to introduce his latest doc “Ricardo and Painting,” was greeted with a Special Tribute Award before the screening. “Is this for the film?” Shroeder, a modest man, asked on stage. “No,” said Locarno festival director Giona Nazzaro.

Filmmaker Ali Ahmadzadeh is under pressure from Iranian authorities to pull his latest feature Critical Zone from Locarno’s Main Competition after he was summoned to the country’s Ministry of Security.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentSince his appointment as artistic director of the Locarno Film festival in early November, Italian film critic Giona A. Nazzaro has been busy taking the reins of the prominent Swiss festival.

Giona A. Nazzaro, an Italian film programmer, critic, and regular on the international festival circuit, is the new artistic director for the Locarno International Film Festival.Locarno's festival board announced his appointment on Thursday.

By Jamie Lang