Locarno to Honor U.K. Actress Charlotte Rampling With Excellence Award

ROME – The Locarno Film Festival announced Thursday it would present its Excellence Award to British actress Charlotte Rampling on the festival’s opening night, and will screen her latest film on the following night.

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The film, I Anna from director Barnady Southcombe, will screen out of competition and will feature a special introduction from Rampling. Later in the festival, two of Rampling’s older films -- Liliana Cavani’s The Night Porter from 1974 and Under the Sand, directed by Francois Ozon in 2000.

Previous recipients of the Excellence Award include Hollywood standouts Susan Sarandon, John Malkovich, William Dafoe, plus French actor Michel Piccoli, and Italy's Toni Servillo.

Olivier Pere, Locarno’s artistic director, praised Rampling in announcing the honor, calling her “an enigmatic and fascinating actress whose unique magnetism and beauty have graced several landmarks of contemporary cinema.”

The 65th edition of the Locarno Film Festival, set in a picturesque lakeside town in Switzerland, will take place August 1-11.