Locarno Film Festival Introduces Letterboxd Award

The Locarno Film Festival is partnering with movie-fan social media site Letterboxd on a new award for this year’s edition.

The Letterboxd Piazza Grande Award will honor a film screening at the legendary Piazza Grande, the Swiss festival’s 8,000-seat outdoor cinema at the heart of Locarno, that “combines both the values and artistic qualities of the cinephile landscape of today and commercial potential on the international festival circuit.” The winning title will receive extensive editorial coverage on Letterboxd and on Locarno’s film festival’s channels to help “build global awareness.”

A jury made up of Letterboxd editorial staff and young accredited critics attending the Festival will vote on the winner.

“Over the past decade, Letterboxd has become one of the essential sites for film fans to share the films they love,” says Locarno artistic director Giona A. Nazzaro. “We are proud to be the first international festival to join with Letterboxd in giving an award to films in the official selection, in this case those shown at the real heart of our Festival: under the stars on the Piazza Grande.”

Adds Letterboxd co-founder Matthew Buchanan: “One of our guiding principles is to find ways to bring our audience of film lovers closer to the filmmakers operating at the forefront of the medium. We are thrilled to be working with the Locarno Film Festival in its 77th incarnation, to provide coverage, community reactions and filmmaker support in the most beautiful of outdoor settings.”

The ceremony for the inaugural Letterboxd Piazza Grande Award will be held in the Piazza Grande on the evening of Saturday, Aug. 17.

The 77th Locarno Film Festival runs Aug. 7-17.