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LOCARNO, Switzerland The rains poured down, but the movies bloomed at the 54th Locarno Intl. Film Festival, which under new director Irene Bignardi showed every sign of renewal after several years in the doldrums.
As the fest (Aug. 2-12) entered its final few days last week, the 19-pic competition alone had screened at least seven world pre- ems of note, with three titles still to unspool. And the out-of-competition program, held in the Swiss-- Italian town's cobbled Piazza Grande, was being hailed as the most even and focused in years.
Despite losing two titles at the last moment to Venice (a recurring and inevitable problem for Locarno), Bignardi reckoned she'd still managed to put her stamp on the competition, balancing the fest's desire to...