With a total of 233 films, including 103 world premieres and 8 international premieres, the selection for the 79th edition of the Locarno Film Festival (running 5 - 15 August) is, in the words of its artistic director Giona A. Nazzaro, “adventurous and full of surprises”. The festival showcases both emerging voices and established names reflecting on the present, “without ever foregoing the pleasures of storytelling and entertainment”.

In the International Competition, which comprises 17 titles, we find new films by four directors already known to the festival. First up is Swiss-Portuguese filmmaker Basil Da Cunha (O fim do mundo, Manga D’Terra), who’s returning to Lisbon’s Reboleira neighbourhood, the setting of all his films, by way of O Jacaré, to tell the story of some loot from a robbery that goes missing. Also in the line-up is Objet A by Berlin-based director and artist Ann Oren (Piaffe), about a pair of hand surgeons in an atypical relationship who are haunted by shared ghosts. After featuring in Locarno’s Leopards of Tomorrow competition last year, Italian director Salvatore Mereu (Bentu) will present Wandering Trees, following the intertwined destinies of three Sardinian families caught between social pressures, betrayals and desires. French filmmaker Sarah Leonor (in competition at the festival in 2009 with A Real Life) is also returning with D’ici là, starring Franco-Swiss actor and director Laetitia Dosch, among other names.

Familiar faces at the festival include Singaporean director Nelson Yeo (whose 2023 debut, Dreaming & Dying, was the first Southeast Asian title to win the Golden Leopard in the Filmmakers of the Present section, as well as the Swatch First Feature Film Award) with The House On The Moon, South Korea’s Hong Sangsoo (awarded the Golden Leopard in 2015 for Right Now, Wrong Then and various other trophies at the festival) with Nowhere To Lay My Eyes, and Canadian filmmaker Denis Côté (crowned Best Director in 2010 for Curling) with Violence du corps de l’autre.

Returning to the European titles, Italy will also be present via Ketticè, the second feature by Giovanni Tortorici (Nineteen), which follows two sixteen-year-olds navigating their quest for freedom and complex family dynamics, as well as the Spanish/Peruvian co-production Far From the Trees by Spanish director Meritxell Colell Aparicio (Facing the Wind), revolving around a sound artist travelling to Peru to record endangered languages. Germany is also attending via two co-productions: I Rarely Wake Up Dreaming by German director Isabelle Stever (Grand Jeté), portraying a Ukrainian LGBTIQ+ couple during Russia’s brutal assault, and The Riverbank, which is the first feature by Brazilian duo Matheus Farias and Enock Carvalho, reflecting on their country through the eyes of a young Black gay man. France is involved in several co-productions, too: Rehmat by India’s Gurvinder Singh (The Fourth Direction); Hearing, the second feature by Vietnamese filmmaker Lê Bảo (a Berlinale award-winner via Taste); and the animated film Donkey Princess by Chilean duo Cristobál León and Joaquín Cociña, known for their stop-motion title La casa lobo. Completing the European contingent are You Don’t Belong Here by Romanian director Florin Șerban (a Berlinale winner thanks to If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle), focusing on a turbulent father-son relationship, and Brave New Love, which is a romantic family comedy by Swedish filmmaker Maria Bäck. Wayne Wapeemukwa’s Canadian title, Manhunt, will be rounding off the line-up.

Ten of the thirteen titles (12 features and 1 short) screening Out of Competition are European productions or co-productions. Among them are two Swiss films (Happiness Is So Close! by François-Christophe Marzal and The Angel Maker, which is a documentary mini-series by Marina Klauser), two German works (the horror thriller Bloody Tennis by Nikias Chryssos and the documentary Transition by Peter Badel, who was Thomas Heise and Brit Chris Wright’s longtime cinematographer) and three films with French involvement (Roma elastica by Bertrand Mandico, a Swiss-festival habitué whose work was previously unveiled in Cannes; Atcha Atcha, a Senegalese documentary by Mamadou Dia (awarded the Golden Leopard in Locarno’s Filmmakers of the Present line-up and the Swatch First Feature Award in 2019 via Nafi’s Father), and Sixteen Moments of My Life, starring Ingrid Caven, by multi-award-winning director Albert Serra).

The parallel sections Filmmakers of the Present, Piazza Grande and Semaine de la Critique have also been unveiled (read news).

Last but not least, tributes are set to be paid to US filmmakers Darren Aronofsky (Honorary Leopard) and James Gray (Career Leopard), Icelandic producer Sigurjón “Joni” Sighvatsson (Raimondo Rezzonico Award), Italian actor, director and musician Asia Argento (Lifetime Achievement Award), Belgian actress Virginie Efira (Leopard Club Award), US make-up and effects artist Rick Baker (Ticinomoda Vision Award) and actor-director Isabella Rossellini (Excellence Award).

The selected films are as follows:

Competition

Brave New Love – Maria Bäck (Denmark/Sweden/Greece)
Hearing - Lê Bảo (Vietnam/Singapore/Norway/France/Indonesia/Saudi Arabia/Cambodia/Thailand/Taiwan)
Far From the Trees – Meritxell Colell Aparicio (Spain/Peru/Italy)
Violence du corps de l’autre – Denis Côté (Canada)
O Jacaré – Basil Da Cunha (Switzerland/ Portugal)
The Riverbank – Metheus Farias, Enock Carvalho (Brazil/Germany)
Donkey Princess – Cristobál León, Joaquín Cociña (Chile/France/Uruguay/Netherlands/Germany)
D’ici là – Sarah Leonor (France)
Wandering Trees – Salvatore Mereu (Italy)
Objet A – Ann Oren (Germany/Luxembourg/Greece)
Nowhere To Lay My Eyes – Hong Sangsoo (South Korea)
You Don’t Belong Here – Florin Șerban (Romania)
Rehmat – Gurvinder Singh (India/France)
I Rarely Wake Up Dreaming – Isabelle Stever (Germany/Ukraine)
Ketticè – Giovanni Tortorici (Italy)
Manhunt – Wayne Wapeemukwa (Canada)
The House On The Moon – Nelson Yeo (Singapore/Taiwan/Germany/Indonesia)

Out of Competition

Transition – Peter Badel, Chris Wright (Germany)
Bakma – Abdelhamid Bouchnak (Tunisia)
Atcha Atcha – Mamadou Dia (Senegal/France)
Bloody Tennis – Nikias Chryssos (Germany)
Bruton – Vincent Grashaw (USA)
The Angel Maker – Marina Klauser (Switzerland)
Marco Bellocchio: la porta della realtà – Fabio Lovino (Italy)
Roma elastica – Bertrand Mandico (France/Italy)
Happiness Is So Close! – François-Christophe Marzal (Switzerland)
Sundown – Rebekah McKendry (Canada)
Tombe des rêves – F.J. Ossang (France, short film)
Asphalt Guerrilla – Edgar Pêra (Portugal)
Sixteen Moments of My Life – Albert Serra (France/Spain)