July 13, 2017
Actor Irrfan Khan's film "The Song of
Scorpions", which narrates a tale of love and revenge, will have its
world premiere at the forthcoming 70th edition of Locarno Film Festival.
"The Song Of Scorpions", which has been extensively shot in Rajasthan,
is helmed by Anup Singh, and also features Iranian beauty Golshifteh
Farahani, Waheeda Rehman and Tillotama Shome.
Fest artistic director Carlo Chatrian said that Irrfan and Farahani are
expected to make the trek to promote "The Song of Scorpions", which
mixes Bollywood tropes with harsh reality since its basic theme is
"sexual violence against Indian women", reports variety.com.
The Locarno Film Festival has unveiled a rich mix of titles spanning
many genres for its 70th edition. The lineup has strong French presence
with Isabelle Huppert playing a physics teacher who undergoes a major
personality shift in "Madame Hydea and Fanny Ardant playing a man who
has had gender-reassignment surgery in "Lola Pater".
Indian actor Anupam Kher's "The Big Sick", Charlize Theron's film
"Atomic Blonde" and Netflix's sci-fi thriller "What Happened to
Monday?" will also screen in Locarno's open-air, 8,000-seat Piazza
Grande.
According to variety.com, the lineup of the Swiss fest dedicated to
indie cinema combines potential discoveries with new works by known
festival auteurs such as Noemie Lvovsky, Anup Singh, F.J. Ossang, Wang
Bing, Annemarie Jacir, and a posthumous film by Raul Ruiz. The official
competition comprises 14 world premieres, four of which are films by
first-time directors.
Lvovsky's "Tomorrow and Thereafter", a dark fable about a 10-year-old
girl living with an unstable mother, will open the fest on August 2 in
the Piazza Grande.
Four French world premieres on the Piazza Grande include Nadir
Mokneche's transgender-themed aceLola Pater", which Chatrian said
represented "a very interesting acting challenge" for Ardant; black
comedy "Chien" by Samuel Benchetrit, about a meek man who becomes a
dog; and boxing drama "Sparring", which is actor Samuel Jouy's
directorial debut.
The closing film will celebrate Swiss hard-rock band "Gotthard" with
documentary "Gotthard - One Life, One Soul", directed by Kevin Merz.
French director Olivier Assayas is heading the main jury, while
Egypta¿s Yousry Nasrallah will preside over the Filmmakers of the
Present jury panel.
The festival will run from August 2-12.