Locarno Film Festival 2026

Posted on by tombrockmann

I absolutely love coming to this festival! Nestled at the northern tip of Lago Maggiore in Switzerland, Locarno is a charming little town with a Mediterranean vibe. Every August, it turns into a buzzing hub that pulls in all the big names from the local and global cinema scene. For ten whole days, the entire city transforms into one massive event space, featuring a huge open-air cinema right in the main square, along with many other theaters around, an open stage for celebrity chats, live music, and plenty of outdoor eateries to keep all the movie buffs that flood in every year entertained.

Whether you are a cinema buff or just want to have fun at a 10-day long party, this is definitely the place to be – and of course you could go hiking, climbing, canoeing, canyoning or just lazing at one the many “beaches” around the lake. And if you are into extremes why not try the 220 m “Golden Eye” bungee jump from the nearby Verzasca dam, made famous by the opening sequence of the 1995 James Bond film “Golden Eye”- just to stay on topic 🙂

https://www.locarnofestival.ch/it/home.html

The Antarez Project

Posted on by tombrockmann

I recently published two songs on all music streaming platforms under the band name “THE ANTAREZ PROJECT” (in honour of my last band). “Silver Dawn” is a metal ballad that I wrote ages ago – and has now come back in a new dress. “Scorched Lands” is an epic instrumental piece created to be used as a film score. Below is a taste of “Silver Dawn” and “Scorched Lands”.

English Lesson Topics Part 1!

Posted on by tombrockmann

It’s been quite some time in the making but I’m finally ready to publish the first nine conversation topics in this preliminary format. I still haven’t decided on the final version but for now these can be downloaded and used in English conversation classes.

The basic idea of these worksheets is to gradually expand topic-specific productive vocabulary (see: MY WORD LIST). I have limited the word list for now to 10 nouns/page not to overwhelm students. The photos should help get a conversation going and the text and further questions at the bottom of the page could lead to more in-depth dialogue on the topic.

I’m open and very interested in any comments you may like to share.. They will help me refine the format, the contents and further expansion of this idea such as additional audio, video, worksheets, etc. At present there are many more general topics in the making which then can be found on this page in the near future.

And here are the downloadable PDFs:

Guitar gear
Fishing
Filmmaking
Dogs
Cooking utensils
Cocktails
Hiking
Car dashboard
Car trouble

Local heroes

Posted on by tombrockmann

In 1982, FAT FREDDY’S TIME GENERATOR and three other local bands of Canton Ticino (Southern Switzerland) produced an album titled TICINO MUSICA Vol. 2 as part of a trilogy to showcase young aspiring bands of that region. I’m extremely pleased to see that after 42 years, ALESSANDRO ZANOLI of RSI (Radiotelevisione Svizzera Italiana) has revisited that period and produced a podcast series to bring to life a time when local musicians and bands had few opportunities to show off their talents let alone immortalise them on records. As guitarist of Fat Freddy’s Time Generator I’m proud to have been part of that. To listen to the podcasts go to https://rsi.ch/s/2083641 (in Italian)