LOCARNO 2005 -- THE FULL REPORT 58th LOCARNO FILM FESTIVAL FEATURES MOST COMPLETE ORSON WELLES RETRO EVER -- by Alex Deleon  --  (for <www.filmfestivals.com>) The 58th installment of the Locarno film festival at the Tippety-top of glorious Lago Maggiore in the Italian Speaking part of Switzerland (Ticino) got underway on Wednesday, August 3rd and will go on until August 13. Some 300 films of all kinds will be projected at numerous venues all over town, but the main event is the slate of...

Video CompetitionThe Iranian entry “President Mir Qanbar” by Mohammed Shirvari is a most unusual documentary about a 74 year old man from a village in the Turkish speaking Azerbaijan region who mounts his own private campaign to run for president of Iran. He travels from village to village on a bicycle addressing whoever will listen with a portable megaphone and is accompanied by a deformed cripple riding a donkey cart. Being a poor villager himself he contends to be sensitive to the probl...