100 Unterschriften erreicht
An: Film Festival Locarno, City of Locarno
Locarno: don't touch the screen!
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Locarno: don't touch the screen! – protecting the screen of the Locarno Film Festival designed by Livio Vacchini
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Locarno: don't touch the screen! – protecting the screen of the Locarno Film Festival designed by Livio Vacchini
Every year since 1971, during the Locarno Film Festival, Piazza Grande is transformed into an open-air cinema to celebrate the seventh art in its most independent form. This recurring event, in which the magic of cinema blends with the experience of the urban space, is the result of an insight by the renowned architect Livio Vacchini, who custom-designed the specific projection structures for the city square, characterised by their iconic reticular structure. The screen and projection booth, which have been adapted over time to technological developments with intelligence and respect for the original design, are essential elements of the ephemeral architecture that, year after year, brings this exceptional urban spectacle to life in the city devoted to cinema. They convey the values that define the Locarno Film Festival, the city of Locarno, modern Ticino architecture and Swiss film culture, and constitute a unique example in Switzerland and beyond.
Unfortunately, for economic and logistical reasons, the Locarno Film Festival has decided to “retire the screen”, opting instead for generic systems, sacrificing its rich architectural culture.
While understanding the complexity of the challenges the Locarno Film Festival must face, we ask:
- that the Locarno Film Festival preserves and enhances the screen and projection booth designed by Livio Vacchini by continuing to use them for screenings in Piazza Grande;
- that municipal, cantonal and federal authorities protect the film screenings in Piazza Grande during the Locarno Film Festival, as well as the projection structures specifically developed by architect Livio Vacchini;
- that transparency, participation and public debate be ensured in the future regarding decisions that have a significant impact on the Festival, particularly concerning its cultural role and identity values.
The petition has been signed by the following twenty people from the film, culture, architecture and heritage protection sectors. Listed in alphabetical order:
- Michele Bardelli, architect, former municipal councillor of the City of Locarno
- Silvia Barrera Meili, architect, co-president of SIA Ticino and representative of SIA-Ticino on the CAT Committee (Conference of Technical Associations of the Canton of Ticino)
- Michael Beltrami, director and producer
- Renato Berta, director of photography
- Patricia Boillat, cinema designer and filmmaker
- Mario Botta, architect, founder of the Mendrisio Academy of Architecture
- Danilo Catti, director and producer
- Michele Dell'Ambrogio, film critic, artistic director of the Circolo del Cinema di Bellinzona
- Tiziano Fontana, President of the Ticino Society for Art and Nature STAN, Ticino Section of Swiss Heritage
- Franz Graf, architect, Director of the Laboratory of Techniques and Preservation of Modern Architecture TSAM – EPFL
- Elena Gugliuzza, cinema designer and filmmaker
- Villi Hermann, filmmaker and producer
- Adriano Kestenholz, director, President of AFAT - Associazione Film Audiovisivi Ticino
- Marco Müller, Director of the Centre for Research on the Arts of Cinema, University of Shanghai, former Director of the Locarno Film Festival (1992-2000)
- Nicola Navone, architect and researcher, Deputy Director of the Modern Archive at the University of Lugano
- Roberto Pomari, President of the Lugano Human Rights Film Festival, former Director of Palacinema
- Esmé Sciaroni, film make-up artist and architect
- Silvio Soldini, film director and screenwriter
- Laurent Stalder, professor of history and theory of architecture, former Director of the Institute of History and Theory of Architecture GTA ETHZ
- Eloisa Vacchini, architect, owner of Studio Vacchini