Filmmaker Joanne Cesario’s ‘Here, Here’ competes in 2020 Locarno Film Festival

Filmmaker Joanne Cesario is part of the 2020 Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland as her short film Here, Here competes in the festival’s Pardi di Domani section.

Editor’s note: A previous version of this story stated that Cesario’s film was the only entry from the Philippines. Filipino filmmakers Lav Diaz and Miko Revereza are part of a different competition for full-length films. These features, however, were forced to stop production because of the coronavirus pandemic. We’ve since updated this story.

The Pardi di Domani section screens shorts and medium-length films from around the world, by independent filmmakers or film students who have not yet made a full-length feature.

Joanne’s film is the only entry from the Philippines out of a lineup of 43 short films selected from 2,200 entries. It’s the first time since 2015 that a Filipino film made it to the Pardi di domani.

Here, Here tells the story of a young man named Koi who reconnects with his slowly decaying hometown as he returns for the first time since leaving for college. Koi, who faces the possibility of losing his hearing, accompanies his mother as they wait for his father to make it home alive following a mining accident.

The film competed as part of the Shorts Competition of the 2019 QCinema International Film Festival.

Here, Here and other entries will be competing for two awards: the Pardino d’oro (10,000 Swiss francs), and the Pardino d’argento (5,000 Swiss francs).

The section’s jury members include Filipina visual artist and documentary filmmaker Kiri Dalena, Senegalese writer and director Mamamdou Dia, and South by Southwest Festival senior programmer Claudette Godfrey.

The festival will run from August 5 to 15, through online screenings with 1,590 virtual seats per film availble online. Physical screenings will also be held in Locarno.

Locarno started in 1946, and is known as a platform for art-house cinema. – Rappler.com