Exhibition and Stories in the Cityscape

We are the festival too!
New voices on the history of the Locarno Film Festival

Founded in 1946, the Locarno Film Festival is Switzerland’s oldest film festival. Over the decades, this major cultural event has had a profound impact on the region, the world of cinema and countless individuals. And the opposite is true as well: all those people helped shape the festival and left their mark on it.

Yet some key voices are still missing from the official accounts of the festival’s history: those of the people who (once) worked for or lived near the festival, of local creative and performing artists, of festival attendees or small business owners. 

Between 2024 and 2026, the piazza nostra team collected their stories. An exhibition in the inner courtyard of the Museo Casorella, housed in the festival’s former projection booth on Piazza Grande and a city tour feature filmed interviews and archive photographs: material that reveals previously unknown stories, well-kept secrets and unforgettable anecdotes relating to the Locarno Film Festival.

The exhibition was created in partnership with the City of Locarno and the Locarno Film Festival