After a half-century of photographing the rich and tremendously famous, Annie Leibovitz has focused her lens on a majestic beast of a different sort, snapping photos of the Locarno Film Festival‘s iconic leopard.
Leibovitz designed the official poster for the 2024 Locarno Film Festival, which Locarno unveiled on Tuesday. The poster shows the feline mascot against the Alpine backdrop of the Lago Maggiore, an image meant to evoke the contrast inherent in the pristine setting for Europe’s most avant-garde A-list festival. “Like the Locarno Film Festival, the leopard is captivating, an out-of-place icon in an evocative setting,” goes the festival blurb.
“Annie has produced an iconic image characteristic of her idiosyncratic language,” said Locarno festival pesident Maja Hoffmann, noting the image of the leopard, with its “unique beauty and fragility,” set against the Locarno mountains, “turn it into a poignant symbol of our times.”
Austrian filmmaker Jessica Hausner will serve as jury president for the 77th Locarno Film Festival, which runs from August 7-17, 2024. The Piano and The Power of the Dog director Jane Campion will be honored with this year’s Pardo d’Onore Manor Award for lifetime achievement.
