Some very sad news from the ranks of LA’s international entertainment journalist community. Per a report in Screen International, Swiss-born journalist Claudia Laffranchi was found dead in her LA apartment Tuesday by a friend. She was just 49.

Laffranchi was intricately involved with several film festivals, including a brand new one in Cancun that she attended in March. Like many LA-based foreign showbiz journalists, she contributed to a variety of outlets such as Italian newspaper Il Giornale, Swiss magazine Il Caffe, Swiss Italian TV and Radio RSI. From her website bio:

For Swiss television, Laffranchi produced a series of profiles of descendants of Swiss-Italian immigrants who moved to California at the beginning of the 20th century. She also produced and directed, together with Alberto Engeli, two 26-minute documentaries: Los Angeles, Switzerland, about young Swiss artists living in LA; and Hollywood, CH, a profile of three very successful personalities of Swiss heritage (businessman Fred Hayman, actor Vincent Perez and production designer Eugenio Zanetti).

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