Everyone’s heard of the Cannes Film Festival. Some might even know a thing or two about Venice or Berlin, but few outside of select film circles have even caught wind of Switzerland’s unassuming Locarno Film Festival. And maybe they like it that way. As one of the oldest and most prestigious film festivals in the world, Locarno eschews the glamorous, celebrity-driven spectacle of festivals like Cannes and Toronto in favor of a more low key, artistically-minded event with a focus on quality and experimental spirit. In short, they have nothing to prove.
Kicking off its 67th edition tomorrow evening, we’ve decided to give you you an inside look into some of the Latin American films lucky enough to make this year’s official competition, which runs through August 16th. For our first trailer, we bring you a true Locarno veteran, Argentine filmmaker Martín Rejtman.
Competing a fourth time for the coveted Golden Leopard (way cooler than a Golden Palm, right?) with his new feature Dos Disparos, Rejtman is perhaps one of the most undervalued figures of the so-called New Argentine Cinema movement. Nevertheless, thanks to Locarno and a few dedicated film programmers, he has managed to accrue a small but devoted fan base.
Following a series of events that unfold in the wake of a teenager’s failed suicide attempt, Dos Disparos quickly shakes its unsettling opening and slips into the highly idiosyncratic absurdist comedic-style Rejtman has mastered over the last several decades. While a trailer could never do justice to Rejtman’s slow-burning sense of humor, the cheesy, 90s-style electro-house and mumbled, awkward performances are all part of the joke.
After 10 years of inactivity, Dos Disparos is Rejtman’s largest, most ambitious production yet. We’ll have to see what that could possibly mean for the director of Silvia Prieto and Los guantes mágicos.