Locarno is also a convenient starting point for a variety of excursions into the the valleys and in to the heart of the Alpine chain. In addition the cultural life of the city is rich and varied, offering a program of colorful events.

Piazza Grande is the heart of the town where all the cultural and business life of Locarno happens. In recent years the piazza has become well known not only thanks to the International Film Festival, but also thanks to the prestigious open air concerts. It’s north side is characterised by typical arcades in authentic Lombard style, dating back centuries. 

More pictures in the gallery

Film Festival 2008
The Piazza Grande program for 2008 has 17 feature films, including 9 world premieres. The selection is marked by a strong European presence, with five French and five German films. The English language panorama varies, with three American films, two from the UK and one from Australia.

We saw two of the films. The first was “Chaos Theory” by Marcos Siega and the second one was “Berlin Calling” by Hannes Stoehr.

Chaos Theory

Chaos Theory (Summary from IMD)
This comedy features Frank Allen, an obsessively organised time efficiency expert, author of the famous book The Five Minute Efficiency Trainer. Frank Allen runs his life with a complicated filing system. His task lists are as famous as his lectures, since if there’s one thing Frank doesn’t believe in, it’s spontaneity. Every decision he makes is thought through, evaluated, designed for the extremely ordered life he has built for himself. His wife Susan accepts these obsessions in small doses, but one day she decides that enough is enough, and tries to get her husband off his dependence on his timetables: she decides to put his watch forward by ten minutes. But in her hurry, Susan makes a mistake and actually puts it back… What follows is a series of incidents that will completely overturn Frank’s life, to the point where he renounces his self-imposed principles.

Berlin Calling

Berlin Calling (Summary from cineuropa.org)
Berlin underground composer and electro DJ Martin (known under the pseudonym of DJ Ickarus) is on tour with his manager and girlfriend Mathilde. The two of them spend their nights in clubs, and are preparing to release a major electronic music album. However Mathilde finds it increasingly difficult to deal with Martin’s drug addiction and the album release is compromised when the DJ, following an overdose, is held in a psychiatric ward. While Martin gets to know the other patients and starts to write music again, Mathilde falls into the arms of her former lover, Corinna, and the album release remains on hold. With the internationally known hit DJ Paul Kalkbrenner in the lead role (who also composed the film’s score), Berlin Calling depicts the nocturnal world of the electro scene at 100,000 beats per minute.

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