Luc Jacquet, the Oscar-winning French director of March of the Penguinswill be honored with the 2023 Locarno Kids Award, an honor that celebrates a film personality who has brought cinema to younger audiences and given them “a sense of discovery about the big screen”.
Jacquet will receive his award on August 7 in Locarno, prior to an open-air screening of March of the Penguins on the legendary Piazza Grande of Locarno. Jacquet will also participate in a panel discussion on August 8. Locarno screens a selection of Jacquet’s other films, including documentaries Once upon a time there was a forestyears 2015 Ice and the sky And Penguins follow-up Penguins 2: the next step (2017), as well as the 2007 feature The fox and the child.
“Luc Jacquet is a director who has masterfully intertwined the magical charm of observation and the sheer poetry of storytelling, guiding our gaze into never-before-explored dimensions of the planet,” said Giona A. Nazzaro, Artistic Director of the festival. “Turning documentaries into epic yet intimate adventures, he has drawn new generations of viewers to the magic of movie storytelling while engaging them in protecting life in all its forms.”
Jacquet’s new movie, Magnetic continentwill explore the director’s decades-long obsession with Antarctica.
The Locarno Kids Award was created in 2021. Previous editions went to Japanese anime director Mamoru Hosoda (Mirari, Wolf Kids) and Indian director Gitanjali Rao (Bombay rose, October).
The 76th Locarno Film Festival runs from August 2 to 12.
