Travel and cinema seek to explore and paves the way for fascinating encounters. As the cannes film festival rolls on, we present the coolestu00a0destinations that reward you on both levels -- cinematic and explorative

Locarno International Film Festival, Switzerland
Every August, around 1,80,000 cinema-goers, 1,100 journalists, and 3,400 professionals converge in the small, charming Swiss-Italian town of Locarno, in the heart of Europe. This town transforms into the continent's cinema capital for 11 days. Situated in the mountains of Switzerland where Italian is the main language, the fest is skewed largely towards the general public than those from the industry and screens only feature-length films. It's wow feature lies in the massive screen that comes down in the legendary Piazza Grande, the massive town plaza, with room for over 8,000 spectators.


Spectators are pictured seated in front of the giant screen at
the Piazza Grande during the 62nd Locarno international film
festival in August 2009. PICS/ AFP

Venice Film Festival, Italy
The oldest festival film festival in the world has a gorgeously romantic locale for its backdrop. Founded in 1932, the fest takes place on the island of Lido and is part of the Venice Biennale, a major biennial exhibition and festival for contemporary art. It's important to note that Italian dictator Benito Mussolini is credited to having established this fest before World War II while Cannes emerged as its anti-fascist counter-event.