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HOLLYWOOD As a critic attending film festivals, I'm accustomed to seeing between three and five films per day, knocking off a review or two in between screenings, wolfing down a sandwich while racing from one theater to the next and averaging four or five hours of sleep per night for 10 days. It's not the best way to give every film its due, perhaps, but you get used to it.
During the first two weeks of August, I had the occasion to experience a festival in a different way by serving on the jury of a major international event, the Locarno Film Festival, held in Ticino, the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland.
What with a luxury hotel room overlooking Lake Maggiore and surrounding mountains, transportation to theaters via private van or free-of charge bicycles, a relaxed schedule of two or three movies per day, reserved seats at screenings and relaxed meals often shared with my splendidly convivial and genial fellow jury members, it was a great gig - rather like traveling first class on a voyage whose only downside was the bad movies on many of the entertainment channels.
Good company
Although, at 53, it's one of the oldest festivals in the world and has long been an A-list event, Locarno is not nearly so widely known-least of all in the United States - as its equally venerable brethren in Venice, Cannes and Berlin.
Occupying a second tier among competitive European festivals along with San Sebastian, Locarno started off as a leisurely gathering that only presented one or two films per day.
More recently, especially under the guidance of just-departed fest director Marco Muller, Locarno developed a reputation for introducing the West to nascent cinematic movements in countries like China and Iran, and it persists in favoring offbeat, "difficult" fare from...