The Piazza Grande is the 2014 Festival del film Locarno poster

“The Piazza Grande is an extraordinary subject, but is also one of the most photographed sites in Switzerland. From the outset, we realized we had to seek an image in “time”, rather than from a new “point of view”. The screening is ending and the final credits are already unspooling. The facades of the surrounding buildings are illuminated with an infinite number of colors. The lights of the safety exits project an unusual red stripe. The projection booth becomes a space shuttle on the verge of take-off, as if fired by the lights of the restaurants that now gradually return to their usual business.  And that extraordinary multitude of people who silently watch the nightly film on show, emerge quite animated, in a state of celebration. Nothing more than a few seconds, with no elaborate direction or choreography. Without any special effects or manipulation, just a calibration of exposure and diaphragm, the Piazza Grande gives itself a new look.”