Latest in Locarno Film Festival

The Locarno film festival will shift to gender-neutral acting categories with its 76th edition set to run August 2-12, 2023. The festival's two main competitions, the Concorso internazionale and Concorso Cineasti del presente, will now each present two Pardo awards for the best performances. In a statement, the…

Portuguese filmmaker Carlos Conceição's Angolan War of Independence drama Tommy Guns has won the Europa Cinemas Label as Best European film at the 75th Locarno Film Festival, running August 3 to 13. The feature explores the war through the eyes of two youngsters – a local girl and a Portuguese soldier – who are caught…

Brazilian filmmaker Julia Murat clinched the Golden Leopard prize in the main international competition of the 75th Locarno Film Festival with her latest feature Rule 34. The film follows Simone, a young law student who finds a passion for defending women in abuse cases. Yet her own sexual interests lead her to a…

Zsuzsi Bánkuti Appointed Head Of Locarno’s Open Doors Zsuzsi Bánkuti has been appointed as the new head of the Locarno Film Festival's project and talent incubator Open Doors. The 20-year industry initiative runs during the festival and supports filmmakers in regions where producing independent movies is particularly…

Welcome back to another edition of International Insider. This week, you've got me, Jesse Whittock, taking you through the big stories from beyond the U.S. shores. Indian Incentive Luring them in: Indian TV production is one of the big, developing international narratives of 2022, and the country is desperate to…

EXCLUSIVE: UK-French film company Alief has secured international sales rights to Australian filmmaker Alena Lodkina's second feature Petrol, following its buzzy world premiere in Locarno's Filmmakers Of The Present competition. The Melbourne-set drama, co-stars Nathalie Morris as an impressionable…

EXCLUSIVE: Paris-based company Indie Sales has sold Angry Annie, French director Blandine Lenoir's latest feature, to a host of key territories ahead of the film's world premiere at the Locarno Film Festival on Thursday. The film has been sold to Benelux (Cinéart), Canada (Axia Films), Indonesia (Falcon Pictures)…

Lukas Nathrath’s One Last Evening Wins Locarno Pro’s First Look Prize German filmmaker Lukas Nathrath’s debut feature One Last Evening, about a young couple who host a doomed farewell dinner for friends before moving to a new city, has won Locarno Pro’s First Look Award. The prize comes with €50,000 in post-production…

Blumhouse founder and CEO Jason Blum is at Locarno where he is set to be feted with the Swiss festival's Raimondo Rezzonico award for Best Independent Producer. Prior to the event — which will take place at a rainy Piazza Grande — Blum spoke to Deadline about a range of topics, including the status of his upcoming Exor…

Daisy Edgar-Jones picked up Locarno's Leopard Club acting award Friday evening — the latest honour of her short career. Despite her early success, however, Edgar-Jones says she’s keen to reshape her career and shake her perception in the industry. "I play a lot of gentle and quiet nice people, but I’d like to play…

EXCLUSIVE: Paris-based sales company Wide has acquired world sales rights to Angola-born Portuguese filmmaker Carlos Conceição's Angolan War of Independence drama Tommy Guns, which made a well-received debut in Competition at the Locarno Film Festival on Friday. Set against the final violent days of the conflict in…

Matt Dillon is at Locarno this week where he will receive the festival's lifetime achievement award, a prestigious honour that he joked comes with a unique balance of positives and negatives. "I’m too young," he said. "But I do this because hopefully there’s some director here that's gonna say 'good job' because I’m…