In anticipation of the new edition, kicking off on 6 August 2025, the Locarno Residency found in Venice a showcase for emerging filmmakers with the screening at Palazzo Trevisan degli Ulivi of a number of short films made by the three finalists selected from a shortlist of ten. Memory, society and the environment are the common themes of the film works presented during the exhibition.
On 16 January 2025, the Locarno Residency in Venice ended with the screening, curated by Daniela Persico, at Palazzo Trevisan degli Ulivi, home of the Swiss consulate, of three short films made by the winners of the 2024 edition.
The works projected during the event were NSFW by Nolitha Refilwe Mkulisi, Tunggang Langgang (Afterlives) by Timoteus Anggawan Kusno e Piazzale d’Italia by Enea Zucchetti. The winning projects of the edition are still in production: the feature films All Is in Order by Nolitha Refilwe Mkulisi, Nest for the Wind by Timoteus Anggawan Kusno and I sogni degli animali (After Lions) by Enea Zucchetti.
Part of the Locarno Film Festival, the Locarno Residency allows selected emerging filmmakers to make their own feature films with constant creative and professional support.
Nolitha Refilwe Mkulisi focuses on directing and screenwriting after having tried her hand at production and casting. The work shown during the event at Palazzo Trevisan degli Ulivi, NSFW, dated 2022, is a short film included in a larger project, consisting of four sections that make up the collective film Hyperlink, inspired by the risks and complexity of the digital world.
THE PROTAGONISTS OF THE LOCARNO RESIDENCY
The short film Tunggang Langgang (Afterlives) was made by Timoteus Anggawan Kusno in 2024. The Indonesian director, in his works, explores the themes of colonization and dictatorship in his country of origin, as demonstrated by the work staged at Palazzo Trevisan degli Ulivi. The short film delves into the Indonesian ritual of Kuda Lumping, during which young Indonesians dance using entangled horses and sometimes fall into a trance-like state, documented by the director himself. The work also evokes the colonial events that affected Indonesia through the history of some Dutch portraits, symbol of a conflict-ridden past.
The last winner of the Locarno Residency, the Swiss director Enea Zucchetti, visually explores contemporary urban landscapes by looking at the relationship between the natural and the artificial environment. The short film screened in Venice, Piazzale d’Italia (2021), explores the fate of the Casino di Campione d’Italia using time jumps between the past and the present. The building, declared bankrupt in 2018, is now abandoned and stands as a ghost monument in an evocative but contradictory place.
Erica Garbin
https://www.locarnofestival.ch/it/about/factory/residency.html
Translated with AI
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