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 [+lee también:
crítica
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entrevista: Ada Solomon
ficha de la película]), 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 [+lee también:
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entrevista: Dane Komljen
ficha de la película] 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 [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] (in competition in Venice in 2017), after the controversial Mektoub, My Love: Intermezzo [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] (in competition in Cannes in 2019).

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 [+lee también:
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entrevista: Elsa Kremser, Levin Peter
ficha de la película]); The Lake [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by Swiss filmmaker Fabrice Aragno (present in Locarno last year but as a producer to support the film Fire of Wind [+lee también:
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ficha de la película]); and Mosquitoes, also directed by a duo, the Italian filmmakers Valentina and Nicole Bertani, centred on the experience of growing up in a world that doesn’t seem to consider childhood for its true worth.

The competition will also welcome The Seasons [+lee también:
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ficha de la película], by filmmaker Maureen Fazendeiro (who co-directed The Tsugua Diaries [+lee también:
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entrevista: João Nunes Monteiro
entrevista: Maureen Fazendeiro y Migue…
ficha de la película] 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 [+lee también:
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entrevista: Hana Jušić
ficha de la película]) will present God Will Not Help, set at the beginning of the 20th century in a hostile yet fascinating context. Phantoms of July [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by German director Julian Radlmaier (previously in the Encounters section of the Berlinale with Bloodsuckers [+lee también:
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entrevista: Julian Radlmaier
ficha de la película]) 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 [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by Janicke Askevold, which centres on maternity and the crazy hopes that accompany it. Also selected is Dry Leaf [+lee también:
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ficha de la película], the new film by Georgian filmmaker Alexandre Koberidze following What Do We See When We Look at the Sky? [+lee también:
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entrevista: Alexandre Koberidze
ficha de la película], about a photographer disappearing mysteriously, and With Hasan In Gaza [+lee también:
entrevista: Kamal Aljafari
ficha de la película], by Palestinian director Kamal Aljafari (A Fidai Film [+lee también:
crítica
entrevista: Kamal Aljafari
ficha de la película]), 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 [+lee también:
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ficha de la serie] (also on Piazza Grande). Italy, meanwhile, will be represented by Bobò [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by theatre director Pippo Delbono, a delicate portrait of his friend and partner who disappeared, leaving behind an infinite void, and Juda's Gospel [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by Giulio Base, a film loosely based on the gospels and its controversial characters. Also worth mentioning is E [+lee también:
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ficha de la película], 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 [+lee también:
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ficha de la serie], a miniseries by Spanish actor and director Eduardo Casanova, and Kerouac’s Road: The Beat of A Nation [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] 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 [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] – Fabrice Aragno (Switzerland)
With Hasan In Gaza [+lee también:
entrevista: Kamal Aljafari
ficha de la película] – Kamal Aljafari (Palestine/Germany/France/Qatar)
Solomamma [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] – 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 [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] – 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 [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] – 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 [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] – Julian Radlmaier (Germany)
Mare’s Nest – Ben Rivers (UK/France/Canada)

Out of Competition

Juda's Gospel [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] – Giulio Base (Italy/Poland)
Nova ’78 – Aaron Brokner, Rodrigo Areias (UK/Portugal)
Le chantier – Jean-Stéphane Bron (France/Switzerland)
The Deal [+lee también:
crítica
ficha de la serie] - Jean-Stéphane Bron (Switzerland/France/Luxembourg/Belgium) (series)
Kerouac’s Road: The Beat of A Nation [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] – Ebs Burnough (UK/USA)
Silence [+lee también:
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ficha de la serie] – Eduardo Casanova (Spain) (series)
Bobò [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] – Pippo Delbono (Italy)
Legend Of The Happy Worker – Duwayne Dunham (USA)
E [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] – 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)