18/08/2025 - The festival has rewarded the sheer poetry of Sho Miyake, whose film featured on the podium alongside Tales of the Wounded Land, White Snail, God Will Not Help and Dry Leaf

The actors in and directors of White Snail with their awards (© Locarno Film Festival/Ti-Press)

Simultaneously socially engaged, aesthetically powerful, serious but also capable of raising a smile, the 224 films that lit up the 78th Locarno Film Festival reflect the eclecticism of a gathering that values both mainstream and indie cinema, and both classicism and innovation. It’s a winning formula that has been borne out by the strong audience attendance levels. This year’s awards list confirms the variety of points of view and aesthetic approaches, inviting to the podium’s upper echelons a diverse range of productions that are nonetheless united by a desire to elevate reality by converting it into poetry and statements on society. The top prize, the Golden Leopard, was handed to Two Seasons, Two Strangers by Japan’s Sho Miyake, a two-part film that’s both delicate and profound, based on two stories by manga illustrator Yoshiharu Tsuge. Two Seasons, Two Strangers is the fourth Japanese film ever to bag the top prize in the Swiss festival’s history.

The International Competition jury, presided over by Cambodian writer and director Rithy Pahn, was also won over by the unsettling beauty of White Snail [+see also:
film review
interview: Elsa Kremser and Levin Peter
film profile] by directorial duo Elsa Kremser and Levin Peter, to whom they gave the Special Jury Prize. They also fell for the extremely personal chronicle of the war laying waste to Lebanon Tales of the Wounded Land by Abbas Fahdel, which picked up the Leopard for Best Direction. Alongside the wonderful stars of God Will Not Help [+see also:
film review
interview: Hana Jušić
film profile], Manuela Martelli and Ana Marija Veselčic, the two icy protagonists of White Snail, Marya Imbro and Mikhail Senkov, won the Leopard for Best Performance. The German-Georgian co-production Dry Leaf [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alexandre Koberidze
film profile] by Alexandre Koberidze took home the Special Mention and the FIPRESCI Award.

As for the Filmmakers of the Present competition, two movies were recognised with the top prizes: the gentle Hair, Paper, Water… [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Nicolas Graux and Trương Minh Quý, which slowly drip-feeds us the story of its protagonist, walked away with the Golden Leopard; and the family epic Hijo Mayor [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Argentinian director of Korean heritage Cecilia Kang, which scooped the Best Emerging Director Award. Hair, Paper, Water… also earned itself the Special Mention for the Best Feature Debut Award. Lastly, Sweetheart [+see also:
film review
film profile], the first film by Italian helmer Margherita Spampinato, which forces a young boy and an elderly woman together to talk, netted the Ciné+ Special Jury Prize and the Leopard for Best Performance, which went to Aurora Quattrocchi. The same prize was also picked up by Levan Gelbakhiani, the lead in the subtle Don’t Let the Sun [+see also:
film review
interview: Jacqueline Zünd
film profile] by Swiss filmmaker Jacqueline Zünd. 

Meanwhile, Palestinian director Kamal Aljafari was presented with the Europa Cinemas Label for his moving With Hasan in Gaza [+see also:
film review
interview: Kamal Aljafari
film profile], “a tribute to Gaza and its people, to all that has been annihilated and that has reawakened inside me at this dramatic moment in the existence, or non-existence, of Palestine. It’s a film about catastrophe and about the enduring power of poetry”, in the words of Aljafari himself. This year’s First Feature Award went to the family story Blue Heron [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Canadian helmer Sophy Romvari, while Ben Rivers pocketed the Pardo Verde for Mare’s Nest [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ben Rivers
film profile], an ode to the children who have no choice but to inherit an increasingly dystopian world.

Moving on to the majestic Piazza Grande, Rosemead, the debut feature by US director and DoP Eric Lin, produced by and with Lucy Liu (who was honoured with this year’s Career Achievement Award), won over the audience, which conferred the UBS Audience Award upon it. The movie is a family drama that draws inspiration from the true story of a mother suffering from a terminal illness, who is still willing to do anything to save her schizophrenic son.

Here is the full list of award winners:

International Competition

Golden Leopard
Two Seasons, Two Strangers - Sho Miyake (Japan) 

Special Jury Prize
White Snail [+see also:
film review
interview: Elsa Kremser and Levin Peter
film profile] - Elsa Kremser, Levin Peter (Austria/Germany)

Leopard for Best Direction
Abbas Fehdel – Tales of the Wounded Land (Lebanon)

Leopard for Best Performance
Manuela Martelli, Ana Marija Veselčić – God Will Not Help [+see also:
film review
interview: Hana Jušić
film profile] (Croatia/Italy/Romania/Greece/France/Slovenia)
Marya Imbro, Mikhail Senkov – White Snail

Special Mention
Dry Leaf [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alexandre Koberidze
film profile] – Alexandre Koberidze (Germany/Georgia)

Filmmakers of the Present Competition

Golden Leopard
Hair, Paper, Water… [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Nicolas Graux, Tru'o'ng Minh Quý (Belgium/France/Vietnam)

Award for Best Emerging Director
Cecilia Kang – Hijo Mayor [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Argentina/France)

Ciné+ Special Jury Prize
Sweetheart [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Margherita Spampinato (Italy)

Leopard for Best Performance
Aurora Quattrocchi – Sweetheart
Levan Gelbakhiani – Don’t Let the Sun [+see also:
film review
interview: Jacqueline Zünd
film profile] (Switzerland/Italy)

Pardi di domani Competitions

International Competition

Arts3 Foundation Golden Leopard for Best International Short Film
Hyena – Altay Ulan Yang (USA)

Arts3 Foundation Silver Leopard for the International Competition
Still Playing – Mohamed Mesbah (France)

Pardi di Domani-BONALUMI Engineering Award for Best Direction
Aria Sánchez, Marina Meira – Primary Education (Cuba/Spain/Brazil)

Medien Patent Verwaltung AG Award
Force Times Displacement – Angel WU (Taiwan)

National Competition

SRG SSR Golden Leopard for Best Swiss Short Film
Rio Remains Beautiful – Felipe Casanova (Belgium/Brazil/Switzerland)

SRG SSR Silver Leopard for the National Competition
Tusen Toner – Francesco Poloni (Switzerland)

Best Swiss Newcomer Award
Camille Surdez – L’avant-poste 21 (Switzerland)

Corti d’autore Competition

WePresent Golden Leopard for Best Auteur Short Film
A Very Straight Neck – Neo Sora (Japan/China)

Locarno Film Festival Short Selected the European Film Awards
Rio Remains Beautiful – Felipe Casanova

Semaine de la Critique

Semaine de la critique Grand Prize – Prix SRG SSR
Celtic Utopia [+see also:
trailer
film profile] – Dennis Harvey, Lars Lovén (Sweden/Ireland)

Marco Zucchi Award
In the Penal Colony – Gaetano Crivaro, Silvia Perra, Ferruccio Goia, Alberto Diana (Italy)

Other awards

Swatch First Feature Award (Award for Best Feature Debut)
Blue Heron [+see also:
film review
film profile] – Sophy Romvari (Canada/Hungary)

UBS Audience Award
Rosemead – Eric Lin (USA)

Pardo Verde
Mare’s Nest [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ben Rivers
film profile] - Ben Rivers (UK/France/Canada)

Special Mentions
Hair, Paper, Water… - Nicolas Graux, Tru'o'ng Minh Quý
Une fenêtre plein Sud – Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir (France/Mongolia)

Europa Cinemas Label
With Hasan in Gaza [+see also:
film review
interview: Kamal Aljafari
film profile] – Kamal Aljagari (Palestine/Germany/France/Qatar)

FIPRESCI Award
Dry Leaf – Alexandre Koberidze

Ecumenical Award
Solomamma [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Janicke Askevold
film profile] – Janicke Askevold (Norway/Latvia/Lithuania/Denmark/Finland)
Special Mention
The Lake [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Fabrice Aragno
film profile] – Fabrice Aragno (Switzerland)

(Translated from Italian)