The Locarno Film Festival will honor Isabella Rossellini with its Excellence Award that pays tribute to film personalities who are making their mark on contemporary cinema.
Rossellini — whose most recent credits include Alice Rohrwacher’s “La Chimera” (2023) and Edward Berger’s “Conclave” (2024), for which she scored an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress — will receive the prize on the opening night of the Swiss festival on Aug. 5 in its Piazza Grande venue.
“Born of cinema royalty, Rossellini has left her distinct mark on film history, forging a career featuring collaborations with filmmakers like Robert Zemeckis, David O. Russell, Taylor Hackford, Marjane Satrapi, Guy Maddin, the Taviani brothers, or of course, most memorably of all, David Lynch, delivering remarkable performances that have given powerful but elusive voice to their diverse visions,” the fest said in a statement.
Besides holding a public conversation in Locarno, Rossellini will also present screenings of her self-directed web series “Green Porno” (2008-09), in which she acts out animal mating rituals in costume with a brilliant deadpan tone comic genius, as well as several shorts that Rossellini has had a hand in.
“Isabella Rossellini is a true legend of contemporary cinema, a singular talent who has always fully embraced the thrill of artistic risk, reinvention and fearless creative transformation,” said Locarno artistic director Giona A. Nazzaro. “Joyfully unconventional, consistently brilliant in her characterizations and choices, Rossellini has made unpredictability her ultimate artistic signature.”
Nazzaro added, “The Locarno Film Festival is proud and honored to welcome Isabella Rossellini and award her the Excellence Award. She remains a visionary and incomparable performer and self-deprecating genius whose profound presence has left an indelible mark on contemporary cinema through her boundless talent and deep humanity.”
Previous Locarno Excellence Award recipients include Susan Sarandon, John Malkovich, Willem Dafoe, Michel Piccoli, Anjelica Huston, Carmen Maura, Isabelle Huppert, Gael García Bernal, Charlotte Rampling Ethan Hawke, Mathieu Kassovitz, Edward Norton and Golshifteh Farahani.
The 79th edition of the Locarno Film Festival will run Aug. 5-15.
