The 62nd Locarno Film Festival will screen in the official selection Musashi: The Dream of the Last Samurai, the latest film conceived and written by the renowned Japanese animation director Mamoru Oshii (Ghost in the Shell, The Sky Crawlers) and directed by Mizuho Nishikubo (Legend of Heavenly Sphere Shurato, Otogi Zoshi). The film, produced by animation studio Production I.G (Ghost in the Shell, Kill Bill: Vol. 1), will be released theatrically in Japan on June 13.


«We are really delighted to be showing Musashi at Locarno» commented Frédéric Maire, the Festival’s Artistic Director. «The film’s aesthetic references the best of animation cinema, but also the great masterpieces of Japanese film history. In addition to the combination of different styles and genres it creates a unique, post-modern universe that fits perfectly with the Festival’s programming objective, which is to remain constantly on the alert for new developments in film language».

Finally, this year's retrospective, titled "Manga Impact", will be dedicated to the world of Japanese animation (www.mangaimpact.com).

The next edition of the Locarno Film Festival will take place 5 - 15 August 2009.