The Piazza Grande programme for 2008 has 17 feature films confirmed to date, including 9 world premières. The selection is marked by a strong European presence, with five French (co)productions and five German films. The English language panorama varies, with three American films, two from the UK and one from Australia.

Comedy and Social Chronicles

The Festival will open with a major British film, screening as a european première, Brideshead Revisited by Julian Jarrold (Becoming Jane) starring Emma Thompson, based on the Evelyn Waugh novel - a classic of English literature. In total contrast, ten days later, the Festival will close with Back Soon, a hilarious Scandinavian comedy, full of poetic touches... and marijuana, from French-Icelandic filmmaker Solveig Anspach. There's more humour, this time in vitriolic mode, in Clark Gregg's Choke, a gleeful adaptation of a novel by American writer Chuck Palahniuk (Fight Club), featuring Anjelica Huston. Another highly anticipated comedy marks the return to Locarno of french filmmaker Anne Fontaine (Comment j'ai tué mon père, in competition in 2001) with La Fille de Monaco, a blisteringly entertaining film about ambition and power, starring Fabrice Luchini, Roschdy Zem, and, an absolute revelation, Louise Bourgoin. Finally, a radical change of location for Khamsa by Karim Dridi, who also returns to Locarno ten years after Hors Jeu (in competition, 1998). Shot in Marseilles with young non-professional actors, Khamsa is a touching social chronicle with a nod to Les 400 Coups, set in housing estates and gypsy camps.

Music and Film

British filmmaker Julien Temple, known for his music films, (Joe Strummer: The Future is unwritten, Absolute Beginners), presents a contemporary film-opera with The Eternity Man, with both lyrics and score conceived right from the start with the cinema in mind. This astonishing spectacle about the founding of the city of Sydney, provides a formidabile, sensory, musical experience. Lezione 21, the first film by Italian writer Alessandro Baricco (Silk, The Legend of 1900), conducts an intriguing investigation into Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, starring Noah Taylor and John Hurt. Another eventfilm, Berlin Calling by Hannes Stoehr, is driven by the rhythms of beat and techno, plunging us into the raw reality of Berlin nightlife with the famous German DJ Paul Kalkbrenner in the lead role.

Spectacular Cinema and Genre Films

The spectacular Piazza screen will indeed be filled with spectacle in 2008. A stunning mountain film, Nordwand (North Face) by Philipp Stölzl, retraces the tragic attempt to ascend the north face of the Eiger in 1936, in the impressive setting of the Swiss Alps. Andreas Prochaska's Austrian thriller In 3 Tagen bist Du tot 2 will double the dose of suspense and palpitations in this sequel to the first film that had the Piazza audience on the edge of their seats in 2006. Finally, a heroic fantasy and science-fiction saga is on the menu with Howard McCain's Outlander, a breathless American blockbuster featuring aliens and Vikings, with Jim Caviezel in the title role.

BACK SOON

by Solveig Anspach - Iceland/France - 2008 - 92 min, with Didda Jónsdóttir, Jörundur Ragnarsson, Benedikt Árnason, Ólafía Hrönn Jónsdóttir, Joy Doyle, Julien Cottereau

BERLIN CALLING

by Hannes Stoehr - Germany - 2008 - 109 min, with Paul Kalkbrenner, Rita Lengyel, Corinna Harfourch Production: Sabotage Films, Co-production: Stoehrfilm

BRIDESHEAD REVISITED

by Julian Jarrold - Great Britain - 2007 - 135 min, with Matthew Goode, Ben Whishaw, Hayley Atwell, Emma Thompson, Michael Gambon, Production: Ecosse Films, International sales: Hanway Films

CHAOS THEORY

by Marcos Siega - United States - 2007 - 87 min, with Ryan Reynolds, Emily Mortimer, Stuart Townsend, Sarah Chalke, Mike Erwin, Constance Zimmer, Production: Warner Bros./CastleRock,

CHOKE

by Clark Gregg - United States - 2007 - 92 min, with Sam Rockwell, Anjelica Huston, Kelly Macdonald, Brad William Henke Production: ATO Pictures, Contra Film, Co-production: Aramid Entertainment Fund

IN 3 TAGEN BIST DU TOT 2

by Andreas Prochaska - Austria - 2008 - 108 min, with Sabrina Reiter, Andreas Kiendl, Anna Rot, Julia Rosa Stöckl, Martin Loos, Helmuth A. Häusler, Production: Allegro Filmproduktions

KHAMSA

by Karim Dridi - France - 2008 - 103 min, with Simon Abkarian, Mehdi Laribi, Production: Néon Cinema

LA FILLE DE MONACO

by Anne Fontaine - France - 2008 - 95 min, with Fabrice Luchini, Roschdy Zem, Louise Bourgoin, Stéphane Audran, Gilles Cohen, Alexandre Steiger, Production: Soudaine Compagnie/Ciné-@

World Première

LEZIONE 21

by Alessandro Baricco - Italy/Great Britain - 2008 - 101 min, with Noah Taylor, Leonor Watling, John Hurt, Clive Russel, Rasmus Hardiker, Clive Riche, Production: Fandango, RAI Cinema, Co-production: PotBoiler Productions

MARCELLO MARCELLO

by Denis Rabaglia - Switzerland/Germany - 2008 - 95 min, with Francesco Mistichelli, Elena Cucci, Alfio Alessi, Luigi Petrazzuolo, Luca Sepe, Renato Scarpa, Production: C-films

Introduced by: RETOUCHES

by Georges Schwizgebel - Switzerland/Canada - 2008 - 6 min, Production: Studio GDS, Co-production: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)

NIGHT AND THE CITY

by Jules Dassin - Great Britain - 1950 - 96 min, with Richard Widmark, Gene Tierney, Googie Withers, Hugh Marlowe, Francis L. Sullivan, Herbert Lom

Tribute to the Cinémathèque royale de Belgique

NORDWAND

by Philipp Stölzl - Germany/Austria/Switzerland - 2008 - 126 min, with Benno Fürmann, Johanna Wokalek, Florian Lukas, Simon Schwarz, Georg Friedrich, Ulrich Tukur, Production: Dor Film-West, Co-productions : Medienkontor Movie/Dor Film Prod./Triluna Film/Majestic Filmprod./Lunaris Film- und Fernsehprod./Bayerischer Rundfunk/SF

OUTLANDER

by Howard McCain - United States - 2008 - 90 min, with Jim Caviezel, Sophia Myles, Jack Huston, Ron Perlman, John Hurt, Production: The Weinstein Company, Co-production: Ascendant Pictures

Retrospective Nanni Moretti

PALOMBELLA ROSSA

by Nanni Moretti - Italy/France - 1989 - 87 min, with Nanni Moretti, Asia Argento, Silvio Orlando, Mariella Valentini, Eugenio Masciari, Mario Pantan, Production: Sacher Film, Co-production: RAI Radiotelevisione italiana

Leopard of Honour

PLUS TARD TU COMPRENDRAS

by Amos Gitai - France/Germany - 2008 - 90 min, with Hippolyte Girardot, Jeanne Moreau, Emmanuelle Devos, Dominique Blanc, Production: Image et Compagnie, Co-productions: Norddeutscher Rundfunk/Agav Films

SON OF RAMBOW

by Garth Jennings - Great Britain/France - 2007 - 95 min, with Bill Millner, Will Poulter, Tallulah Evans, Production and international sales: Paramount Vantage, Co-productions: Hammer+Tongs/Reason Pictures

THE ETERNITY MAN

by Julien Temple - Australia/Great Britain - 2008 - 64 min, with Grant Doyle, Christa Hughes, Production: Goalpost Pictures Australia
Dailies on fest21.com