The big event of the week was the one day visit August 8 of Hollywood actress and Oscar bearer Susan Sarandon. Susan gave a so-called “master class” which is a recently coined festival term to glorify a guest
appearance in which a famous film personality talks more or less at random for an hour or two to a gathering of professional admirers. The Italians have a special soft spot for Ms. Sarandon as she was once married to an Italian singer and has two children by him. The actrice who is known for her political outspokenness and anti-Iraq war position said, among other things that she has been villfied in the press as a “lover of Bin Laden” and pointed out how ridiculous this is – “One doesn’t have to love Bin Laden to be against President Bush’s policies” she said. During the evening she was on stage in the Piazza Grande to receive an “excellence award” for her career’s work and afford the public a direct glimpse of Hollywood glamour.

On Thursday American actor John Malkovitch is also scheduled to give a Master Class type audience at the Forum – open, incidentally, gratis to the general public. He has selected as the film to represent him Spike Jonze’s “Becoming John Malkevitch”, 1999, which will be shown on the giant screen here. German director Wim Wenders was also so honored in the presence of German Prime minister Gerhardt Schroeder, evidence that almost anyone will accept an invitation to visit Locarno because it’s such a damn nice place
for a quick summer vacation. Wenders's latest film "Dont Come Knocking", a neo-western set in Montana and scripted by Sam Shepard will be shown on the giant screen in the Grand Plaza. Sheperd also acts in the film as a Washed-up western film star. Co-star is Jessica Lange and featured as Sheperd's mother is Eva Marie Saint, rarely seen these days. Tomorrow, French actress Valeria Bruni Tedeschi will be present to accompany her film "Un Couple Parfait" by Japanese director Nobuhiro Suwa.