If you want proof that cinema is alive and well, you could find it last night (August 9) at the packed Piazza Grande open-air theatre at the Locarno Film Festival.

6,500 people turned out in the Piazza for a Saturday night presentation of a lifetime achievement award to Hong Kong and Hollywood icon Jackie Chan, followed by a screening of Joachim Trier’s Cannes Grand Prix winner Sentimental Value and then Chan’s 1985 classic Police Story.

Ahead of the event, the festival urged attendees to arrive early to secure a seat. By the time the gates opened at 8.00pm for the 9.30pm screening, large queues had already formed at the entrance and the huge Piazza quickly filled to capacity (while another 300 watched in a nearby cinema).

It was a truly mixed crowd, all drawn by clever festival prog

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