Over the seventy-plus years of its history, the Locarno Film Festival has earned a secure position on the leading edge of the prestigious international film festival scene. Lying at the heart of Italian-speaking Switzerland on the shore of Lake Maggiore, with the Alps at its back, Locarno is transformed for eleven days each August into the world capital of auteur cinema, becoming a meeting place for thousands of fans who share a passion for filmmaking in all its variety. In Locarno, movies can be watched in the magical darkness of a theater, or enjoyed in the open air, against the stunning backdrop of the Piazza Grande, among an audience of up to eight thousand people.