RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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The winners are in, as the 79 th edition of the Locarno Film Festival revealed its 2026 awards and special mentions in the Swiss town on Saturday.
In the international competition, Romanian director Florin Șerban's Nu E Locul Tau Aici ( You Don't Belong Here ) was honored with the Pardo d'Oro, or Golden Leopard.
The father-son drama, set in a small town, revolves around a man raising his teenage son, Ioan, alone after the death of his wife. He doesn't know that his son gets up at night to cycle through town and vandalize cars with a gang of masked vigilantes. His world is shaken when he learns that the police suspect his son of murder. The film marks the Romanian director's return to feature filmmaking after eight years. The jury lauded it "for the strength of its writing, the singularity of its vision, and its exceptional command of cinematic language." Related Stories Movies "I've Disobeyed the Film God Laws": Lindsey Ryan on Shooting Her Debut Feature at Sea, With Kids, a Boat and a Hamster Movies BFI Boss Ben Roberts, Picturehouse's Clare Binns on Gen Z's Cinema Renaissance, AI Slop and British Indie Film: "We're Not Great at Comedy"
Meanwhile, the Pardo, or Leopard, for best director was awarded to Hong Sangsoo for Nun Dul Dega Eomne ( Nowhere to Lay My Eyes ). And among the performance honors, Monica Bellucci received one for her role in Giovanni Tortorici's Ketticè .
In the Filmmakers of the Present Competition, La Ilusión De Un Verano Sin Fin ( The Illusion of an Everlasting Summer ) by Alessandra Sanguinetti was honored with the Golden Leopard.
Said Locarno artistic director Giona A. Nazzaro: "A vital and contemporary slate of awards, in close dialogue with the transformations in the industry and in our world today. Whether in highlighting the Romania of You Don't Belong Here , or the Brazil of The Riverbank , or the South Korea of Nowhere to Lay My Eyes , the jury upheld the primacy of form and of language, while remaining, in its choices, completely accessible, as the packed and engaged screenings of all competitions demonstrated throughout the festival."
Other Locarno 2026 awards were bestowed upon Beatrice Gibson for At Night and Revolutionaries Never Die by Mohanad Yaqubi, among others.
Meanwhile, the festival's industry strand, Locarno Pro, hit a record, crossing the 2,000 industry registration mark for the first time. This year's 2,140 industry accreditations were up 10 percent from last year's 1,940. Professionals from nearly 100 countries participated.
Said Markus Duffner , director of Locarno Pro: "The numbers show Pro is cementing its place as an essential industry platform, but what matters more to me is what happens inside those numbers: honest conversations about where this industry is heading, the consolidation, the shifting financing logic, the questions Stephen Follows put to us on how little we actually know about ourselves. We kept building the next generation of producers, distributors, sales agents, programmers and filmmakers who'll have to navigate all of that, and with the Locarno Investment Community, we're building a platform diverse and resilient enough to keep backing the talent this industry depends on."
The fest's closing night will take place in the picturesque Swiss town's Piazza Grande on Saturday, with Marc Fitoussi's Ni vue, ni connue ( All About Corinne ), starring Isabelle Huppert, Sandrine Kiberlain, Anne Marivin, Emmanuelle Bercot and Diane Kruger, as the closing film.
Check out the full list of Locarno 2026 winners below.
Concorso Internazionale (International Competition)
Pardo d'Oro – Grand Prize of the Festival and City of Locarno CHF 75,000 to be shared equally between the director and the producer Nu E Locul Tau Aici ( You Don't Belong Here ) by Florin Șerban, Romania Special Jury Prize – Cities of Ascona and Losone CHF 30,000 to be shared equally between the director and the producer A Margem do Rio ( The Riverbank ) by Matheus Farias, Enock Carvalho, Brazil/Germany Pardo for Best Direction – City and Region of Locarno CHF 20,000 to the director Hong Sangsoo for Nun Dul Dega Eomne ( Nowhere to Lay My Eyes ), South Korea Pardo for Best Performance Kim Minhee for Nun Dul Dega Eomne ( Nowhere to Lay My Eyes ) by Hong Sangsoo, South Korea Pardo for Best Performance Monica Bellucci for Ketticè by Giovanni Tortorici, Italy Special Performance Mentions Xavier Bergeron for Violence du Corps de L'Autre by Denis Côté, Canada and Teodor Butănescu for Nu E Locul Tau Aici ( You Don't Belong Here ) by Florin Șerban, Romania
Concorso Cineasti del Presente (Filmmakers of the Present Competition)
Pardo d'Oro – Concorso Cineasti del Presente CHF 35,000 to be shared equally between the director and the producer La Ilusión De Un Verano Sin Fin ( The Illusion of an Everlasting Summer ) by Alessandra Sanguinetti, Argentina/USA
Best Emerging Director Award – City and Region of Locarno CHF 20,000 to the director Beatrice Gibson for At Night , United Kingdom/France
Special Jury Prize CINE+OCS A promotional campaign to the value of CHF 25,000 on CINE+OCS channels at the time of its theatrical release in France Revolutionaries Never Die by Mohanad Yaqubi, Palestine/Belgium/Qatar
Pardo for Best Performance Idrissu Tontie Jr. for Ego Reach We All ( Our Time Will Come ) by Amartei Armar, Ghana/France/Saudi Arabia Pardo for Best Performance Manal Issa for L'Estive ( Summer Meadow ) by Naël Khleifi, Lisa Debauche, Belgium/France Special Mentions Los Días Libres ( The Days Off ) by Lucila Mariani, Argentina/Brazil/Mexico/France and Hanabi ( Fire Flower ) by Ana Vaz, France/Brazil
Concorso Corti d'Autore Pardino d'Oro WePresent by WeTransfer for the Best Auteur Short Film CHF 15,000 to the director The Bovine Comedy by Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke, France Special Mention Et si Thuy n'existait pas ( And if Thuy Didn't Exist ) by Carlo Francisco Manatad, Philippines/France/Indonesia
Concorso Intern...
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