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LOCARNO, SWITZERLAND Who exactly is a film festival for the public, the critics and press, the industry, the jurors, the sponsors, or fest programmers?
The question was asked quite a few times during the recent Locarno Intl. Film Festival, whose 55th edition wrapped Aug. 11 in the picturesque Swiss-Italian lakeside town. Closing movie, screened openair in the burg's 7,000-seater Piazza Grande after the announcement of the prizes, was Neil LaBute's "Possession."
Though there was no outstanding example of "classical" filmmaking like last year's "The Way I Killed My Father," and there was a yawning gap between the good and bad stuff, veteran Italian critic Irene Bignardi's Competition selections were reckoned on a par with, if not better this time round, a raft of interesting first and second features.
Austrian road movie "Blue Moon," French father-son drama "A Loving Father" (with Gerard and Guillaume Depardieu), both German entries - the ascetic...