Griffith and Léaud under the stars

Snap happy Melanie Griffith turns her camera on the audience at the Piazza Grande in Locarno Photo: Richard Mowe

There really is nothing like it. Under a pitch black sky with the stars twinkling above the mountains, the Piazza Grande in Locarno is the perfect natural auditorium for an audience of some 6000 to celebrate cinema in its all guises.

They whooped along with gusto at the opening choice of Luc Besson’s actioner Lucy, which raised the curtain on the 67th edition last night (August 6).

Besides Besson in person (read what he said to us here) the Festival also offered Melanie Griffith, (star of Working Girl, Body Double and Something Wild) who teetered on stage to flag up a short film Thirst by Rachel McDonald (competing in the Pardi di domain section or Talents of Tomorrow).

Griffith was full of praise for her younger protégé. “Just because it is short doesn’t make it any easier. It has nothing to do with the length of the project but with the people involved and the story itself. I got involved because I loved the script right from the moment I read it.”

The actress was equally fulsome in her appreciation of the Festival. “Here you care more about the quality of the films as opposed to the amount of money they make,” she purred.

Thumbs up from New Wave icon Jean-Pierre Léaud who receives an award at Locarno

A special career achievement award was given by Festival director Carlo Chatrian to François Truffaut’s muse Jean-Pierre Léaud, whose younger self appeared in still images projected on to the buildings around the square.

Even at 70 the arresting gaze is still recognisable as the 14-year-old Antoine Doniel, in The 400 Blows.

As a New Wave icon, many of his films with Truffaut and others will be screened. He joked: “I don't want this retrospective to become a necrospective. I'm deeply honoured by this tribute. Although I'm aware of being an icon of the Nouvelle Vague, I'm also looking ahead at movies and projects that are waiting for me.”

The Festival’s President Marco Solari stressed that the event’s humanitarian values and freedom from political interference were alive and well. “There was some opposition from local politicians about the invitation to Roman Polanski who will be here on the closing weekend. Despite the fact that we are receiving an increased subsidy by the region we insisted that this was an artistic choice and could not be vetoed,” he said.

The Locarno Film Festival continues until August 16.