Locarno International Film Festival

Posts Tagged ‘Locarno International Film Festival’

Each year during Festival season we are reminded of our community’s great loss. This year we will once again be reminded of our BFF, as the third edition of “Locarno in Los Angeles” will be underway in Feb, 2020.

Claudia Laffranchi (IMDB – fb – tw), 49, Angelena-Ticinese, Foreign Correspondent, journalist and emcee of the International Film Festival in Locarno, was found dead in her Los Angeles apartment, in the early afternoon of May 22nd, 2012.

Claudia was in very close contact with her Homeland Ticino in southern Switzerland, where she regularly collaborated with local television stations and newspapers as their Los Angeles entertainment correspondent. For the past seven years she was also the multi-talented, multi-lingual live emcee and presenter at the Piazza Grande during the Locarno International Film Festival.

This year’s “Locarno in Los Angeles” event would have been SO much richer, had she been around… sniff…

Living in Hollywood and having extensive first-hand exposure to the World of cinema and television, enticed her to also produce and direct. Claudia was welcomed to the elite circle of influential journalists by winning the prestigious 53rd journalism award given by her peers of the Los Angeles Press Club.

She graced thousands of people with her presence, her beautiful smile, her wit and sense of humor – and was a great cheerleader for the #Angeleno-Swiss/Ticinese community and the driving force behind the creation of Helvetic.LA, who encouraged many creative projects and actively promoted young talent, and mingled among the great Hollywood Stars with her usual poise, class, style, elegance and grace.

We were so much looking forward to growing old together – either in LA, in Ticino, or enjoying the Best of both Worlds – but she left us way too early. Our hearts are aching and our sincere condolences go to her loved ones in Ticino.

Per Claudia’s Family wishes, her friends in Los Angeles had the chance to gather in a private ceremony Wednesday, to pay respects, celebrate her life, and say “arrivederci” to our dearest friend.

In Memory of Claudia: Festival del Film Locarno, Erich Maria Remarque & Paulette Goddard Foundation

Media:
(Italian Corriere del Ticino, tio.ch, Ticinonews, Giornale del Ticino, InfoInsubria, RSI-Quotidiano – video)
(German: Blick / GMX / Tages Anzeiger )
(English: LA Observer / ScreenDaily )

Previous Helvetic.LA stories of everyone’s best friend, our eternally beautiful Claudia

Written by :+)!

May 23, 2017 at 2:15 am

Posted in #SwissHistoryLA, #SwissTalentLA, In Memoriam, LA+Community, Little Switzerland, People.LA+, Pro Ticino soCal

Tagged with #pardo70, laffranchi, Locarno International Film Festival, Pardo

LA Producer Mike Medavoy to receive prestigious “Raimondo Rezzonico” Award at the 64th Festival del Film Locarno

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(via pardo.ch)
This year’s Raimondo Rezzonico Prize at the 64th Festival del Film Locarno is to be awarded to U.S. producer Mike Medavoy.
(see also Variety.com)

Over a forty year industry career, Medavoy has been involved in more than 300 feature films. As one of the most far-sighted figures in the business, he discovered and placed his trust in several waves of New Hollywood directors from the late 1960s to the present day. The Festival del film Locarno will feature screenings of some of the most representative films of his career as studio head and producer: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) by Milos Forman, Apocalypse Now (1979) by Francis Ford Coppola, Dances with Wolves (1990) by Kevin Costner and Black Swan (2010) by Darren Aronofsky. Festival-goers will also be able to attend a master class given by the producer.

Born in Shanghai in 1941, Mike Medavoy started in the industry in Los Angeles in 1964, with Universal Studios. He rose to become a casting director before turning his skills to working as an agent for new talent in auteur cinema in the U.S., handling clients of the caliber of Steven Spielberg, John Milius, Francis Ford Coppola, Terrence Malick, Monte Hellman and Brian De Palma. In the 1970s he became vice-president of production at United Artists, taking a lead role in the fulfillment of projects such as One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) by Milos Forman, Rocky (1976) by John G. Avildsen, Annie Hall (1977) by Woody Allen and Apocalypse Now (1979) by Francis Ford Coppola. In 1978 he co-founded Orion Pictures, where their productions included Dances with Wolves (1990) by Kevin Costner and Silence of the Lambs (1991) by Jonathan Demme. After serving as chairman of TriStar Pictures, in 1995 Medavoy joined Arnie Messer in setting up Phoenix Pictures, where the productions he has since brought to the screen include The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996) by Milos Forman, U-Turn (1997) by Oliver Stone and The Thin Red Line (1998) by Terrence Malick.

Outstanding among Medavoy’s more recent productions are All the King’s Men (2006) by Steven Zaillan, Zodiac (2007) by David Fincher and Shutter Island (2010) by Martin Scorsese. Medavoy has, among other awards, received France’s Legion of Honor and the Chilean government’s Bernardo O’Higgins award. As Olivier Père, Artistic Director at Locarno, puts it, «Mike Medavoy is a producer with the courage of his convictions, brilliantly demonstrated by his long term and untiring support for the best American auteurs, up until the success of Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan, which was nominated as Best Picture and for which Natalie Portman won the Best Actress Oscar. We are proud to pay tribute to a personality of his stature». Created in 2002 and offered by the Municipality of Minusio, the Raimondo Rezzonico Prize is named for the man who oversaw almost two decades of the Locarno Festival as its chairman. The producers who have received the award to date are Paulo Branco, Ruth Waldburger, Karl Baumgartner, Jeremy Thomas, the Agat Films & Cie collective, Lita Stantic, Christine Vachon, Martine Marignac and, in 2010, Menahem Golan.