UPDATE (29 July 2025): The festival has added a final film to the Golden Leopard competition, Yakushima's Illusion, the new work by Japanese director Naomi Kawase, a co-production between France, Japan, Belgium and Luxembourg. The film stars Vicky Krieps in the role of a French coordinator of pediatric heart transplants who is sent to Japan where organ donation remains taboo. As she fights to save a young boy, her partner Jin, a photographer from Yakushima, suddenly vanishes and becomes a “Johatsu”, as the Japanese call the 80,000 people who disappear overnight each year.

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The 78th edition of the Locarno Film Festival (6-16 August) puts forward cinema as a means to reflect on a historical moment as violent as it is frightening. Artistic director Giona A. Nazzaro wondered about the difference between a “real” image and a cinematic one, about the capacity that the film medium has to “verify the possibilities of another possible world”. As highlighted by president Maja Hoffmann, Locarno is therefore committed to “honouring the strength of the cinematic medium by supporting works that aren’t satisfied with indulging in clichés and commercial expectations”.  This edition features 221 films, 99 of which are world premieres and 7 international premieres.

In International Competition, which is welcoming a total of 17 films, there are several new works by festival regulars: Dracula by Romanian filmmaker Radu Jude which, as the title indicates, centres on the famous blood-sucker in the world, and Mare’s Nest, the latest feature by British director Ben Rivers, set in a utopian world where there are only children living without any rules, wild and free. Romania is also represented by Sorella di clausura by filmmaker of Serbian origins Ivana Mladenović (Special Jury Prize in the Filmmakers of the Present section for Ivana the Terrible [+lire aussi :
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interview : Ada Solomon
fiche film]), set in the 1990s musical scene. Another Serbian film is Desire Lines by Dane Komljen (already selected in Locarno with All the Cities of the North [+lire aussi :
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interview : Dane Komljen
fiche film] and his award-winning short film Fantasy Sentences), a film set on the nocturnal streets of Belgrade.

Surprisingly, the selection also includes the new film by Abdellatif Kechiche, Mektoub, My Love: Canto Due, the second part after its predecessor Mektoub, My Love: Canto Uno [+lire aussi :
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The three debut features in competition are White Snail by the duo consisting of Austrian filmmaker Elsa Kremser and German director Levin Peter (in Filmmakers of the Present with Space Dogs [+lire aussi :
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interview : Elsa Kremser, Levin Peter
fiche film]); The Lake [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] by Swiss filmmaker Fabrice Aragno (present in Locarno last year but as a producer to support the film Fire of Wind [+lire aussi :
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The competition will also welcome The Seasons, by filmmaker Maureen Fazendeiro (who co-directed The Tsugua Diaries [+lire aussi :
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interview : João Nunes Monteiro
interview : Maureen Fazendeiro et Migu…
fiche film] with Miguel Gomes) which observes with precision and passion the inhabitants of the Portuguese region of Alentejo. Croatian director Hana Jušić (previously selected in Giornate degli Autori in Venice with Quit Staring at My Plate [+lire aussi :
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interview : Hana Jušić
fiche film]) will present God Will Not Help, set at the beginning of the 20th century in a hostile yet fascinating context. Phantoms of July by German director Julian Radlmaier (previously in the Encounters section of the Berlinale with Bloodsuckers [+lire aussi :
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interview : Julian Radlmaier
fiche film]) portrays the fragile yet intense daily life of a group of characters seemingly very different from one another. Donkey Days by Netherlands-born director Rosanne Pel investigates the complex relationship between two sisters and their mother. Norway will also be represented by Solomamma [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] by Janicke Askevold, which centres on maternity and the crazy hopes that accompany it. Also selected is Dry Leaf [+lire aussi :
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fiche film], the new film by Georgian filmmaker Alexandre Koberidze following What Do We See When We Look at the Sky? [+lire aussi :
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interview : Alexandre Koberidze
fiche film], about a photographer disappearing mysteriously, and With Hasan In Gaza, by Palestinian director Kamal Aljafari (A Fidai Film [+lire aussi :
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interview : Kamal Aljafari
fiche film]), which thanks to a series of archival images gives life to a place that now only exists in his memories. Completing the competition are Tales Of The Wounded Lands by Lebanese filmmaker Abbas Fahdel and Two Seasons, Two Strangers by Japanese director Sho Miyake.

Meanwhile, nine out of fourteen films out of competition are European productions and co-productions. Swiss director Jean-Stéphane Bron will be present with two films: Le Chantier which centres on the almost oneiric construction of cinemas that will remain for posterity, and the series The Deal [+lire aussi :
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fiche série] (also on Piazza Grande). Italy, meanwhile, will be represented by Bobò [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] by theatre director Pippo Delbono, a delicate portrait of his friend and partner who disappeared, leaving behind an infinite void, and Juda's Gospel [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] by Giulio Base, a film loosely based on the gospels and its controversial characters. Also worth mentioning is E [+lire aussi :
bande-annonce
fiche film], by Finnish singer and director Anna Eriksson, an allegory about the responsibility to be a political woman today; Nova ‘78 by Aaron Brookner and Rodrigo Areias which, thanks to a series of archive materials, immerses the viewer in the utopias of the Beat generation; Exile by Mehdi Hmili, one of the most important figures of independent Tunisian cinema; Silence, a miniseries by Spanish actor and director Eduardo Casanova, and Kerouac’s Road: The Beat of A Nation [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] by Ebs Burnough, a documentary about the iconic american writer.

Finally, regarding the tributes: the acclaimed American director Alexander Payne (Honorary Leopard), the Lebanese production company Abbout Productions (Raimondo Rezzonico Award), actress and director Lucy Liu (Career Achievement Award), British actress, screenwriter and producer Emma Thompson (Leopard Club Award) and costume designer Milena Canonero. The Career Leopard will be given to the iconic actor, director and martial arts figure Jackie Chan. The films in the parallel sections have also been unveiled (read news).

The selected films:

Competition

The Lake [+lire aussi :
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With Hasan In Gaza – Kamal Aljafari (Palestine/Germany/France/Qatar)
Solomamma [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] – Janicke Askevold (Norway/Latvia/Lithuania/Denmark/Finland)
Mosquitoes – Valentina Bertani, Nicole Bertani (Italy/Switzerland/France)
Tales Of The Wounded Lands – Abbas Fahdel (Lebanon)
The Seasons – Maureen Fazendeiro (Portugal/France/Spain/Austria)
Dracula – Radu Jude (Romania/Austria/Luxembourg)
God Will Not Help – Hana Jušić (Croatia/Italy/Romania/Greece/France/Slovenia)
Yakushima's Illusion - Naomi Kawase (France/Japan/Belgium/Luxembourg)
Mektoub, My Love: Canto Due – Abdellatif Kechiche (France)
Dry Leaf [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] – Alexandre Koberidze (Germany/Georgia)
Desire Lines – Dane Komljen (Serbia/Bosnia and Herzegovina/Netherlands/Croatia/Germany)
White Snail – Elsa Kremser, Levin Peter (Austria/Germany)
Two Seasons, Two Strangers – Sho Miyake (Japan)
Sorella di clausura – Ivana Mladenović (Romania/Serbia/Italy/Spain)
Donkey Days – Rosanne Pel (Netherlands/Germany)
Phantoms of July – Julian Radlmaier (Germany)
Mare’s Nest – Ben Rivers (UK/France/Canada)

Out of Competition

Juda's Gospel [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] – Giulio Base (Italy/Poland)
Nova ’78 – Aaron Brokner, Rodrigo Areias (UK/Portugal)
Le chantier – Jean-Stéphane Bron (France/Switzerland)
The Deal [+lire aussi :
critique
fiche série] - Jean-Stéphane Bron (Switzerland/France/Luxembourg/Belgium) (series)
Kerouac’s Road: The Beat of A Nation [+lire aussi :
bande-annonce
fiche film] – Ebs Burnough (UK/USA)
Silence – Eduardo Casanova (Spain) (series)
Bobò [+lire aussi :
bande-annonce
fiche film] – Pippo Delbono (Italy)
Legend Of The Happy Worker – Duwayne Dunham (USA)
E [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] – Anna Eriksson (Finland)
Keep Quiet – Vincent Grashaw (USA)
Exile – Mehdi Hmili (Tunisia/Luxembourg/France/Qatar/ Saudi Arabia)
Some Notes On The Current Situation – Eran Kolirin (Israel)
Deathstalker – Steven Kostanski (Canada)
I Live Here Now – Julie Pacino (USA)