Locarno Film Festival Crowns Golden Leopard Winner & Acting Maestros

The 79th Locarno Film Festival celebrated a diverse array of cinematic achievements, with Romanian director Florin Şerban’s poignant film, “You Don’t Belong Here,” earning the prestigious Golden Lion for Best Film in the International Competition. This somber study on anti-Roma racism in Romania also received a special mention for its young star, Teodor Butănescu. The film's victory came amidst a competitive lineup of 17 features, including works from renowned auteurs like Hong Sangsoo and Denis Côté, and was a consensus choice across the festival, additionally securing the Junior Jury and Europa Cinemas Label honors. This win marks a significant return to international festival prominence for Şerban, whose 2010 debut feature, “If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle,” previously won the Grand Prix at the Berlinale. Despite critical acclaim from many quarters, Variety critic Jay Weissberg offered a mostly negative review, noting that the film “opens with great promise and finishes with a stupefyingly misguided coda.”

Veteran Korean auteur Hong Sangsoo did not leave Locarno empty-handed, taking home the Best Director award for his 35th feature, “Nowhere to Lay My Eyes.” This bittersweet family-reunion study was praised by critics as being “as classically and welcomingly Hong as it gets.” This marks another triumph for Hong, eleven years after his comedy “Right Now, Wrong Then” also won the Golden Leopard. His partner and muse, Kim Minhee, continued her own winning streak, securing the gender-neutral Best Performance award for her quietly affecting role as an amateur filmmaker in “Nowhere to Lay My Eyes.” This is her second such honor in Locarno, having previously won the same prize for Hong’s “By the Stream” just two years prior. Kim shared the Best Performance award with Italian icon Monica Bellucci, recognized for her supporting role in Giovanni Tortorici’s coming-of-age tale, “Ketticè.” Bellucci’s performance was particularly endorsed by Weissberg, who celebrated her ability to project a “self-aware drama queen with just the right dose of camp icon.”

Rounding out the International Competition awards, Brazilian directors Matheus Farias and Enock Carvalho received the Special Jury Prize for their queer erotic thriller, “The Riverbank,” which explores the bond between a cleaner and a fisherman on the mangrove-strewn fringes of Recife. Canadian actor Xavier Bergeron also earned a special mention for his performance in Denis Côté’s “Nobody’s Violence.” Surprisingly, the festival buzz title “I Rarely Wake Up Dreaming,” a striking portrait of a transgender marriage amidst the war in Ukraine from German director Isabelle Stever, was overlooked by the main jury, though it did receive “The Environment is Quality of Life” Prize from the Junior Jury and is set for its North American premiere at the New York Film Festival.

Beyond the main competition, Argentine-American photographer Alessandra Sanguinetti made a remarkable directorial debut with “The Illusion of an Everlasting Summer.” This documentary, filmed over 25 years and following two closely bonded female cousins in Argentina’s rural Pampas from childhood to womanhood, was a significant winner. It claimed the top prize in the secondary Filmmakers of the Present competition and also earned the separately juried award for Best First Feature, becoming one of the festival’s word-of-mouth critical sensations. Mubi will distribute “Summer” in North America and the U.K. British artist Beatrice Gibson was recognized as Best Emerging Director by the Filmmakers of the Present jury for her BBC-backed hybrid documentary, “At Night.” Other notable winners in the Filmmakers of the Present category included “Revolutionaries Never Die” (Special Jury Prize), Idrissu Tontie Jr. for “Our Time Will Come” and Manal Issa for “Summer Meadow” (Best Performance), and special mentions for “The Days Off” and “Hanabi.”

In the Leopard of Tomorrow Competition for short films, “The Bovine Comedy” by Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke won Best Auteur Short Film, while “Melk” by Filip Anthonissen was named Best International Short Film and also became Locarno’s candidate for the European Film Awards. Mahmoud Assi’s “Khufu” earned the Pardino d’Argento for the International Competition, and Marco Cavazzin received Best Direction for “Mutrion.” The Best Swiss Short Film went to “Typhoon Mambo” by Domenico Singha Pedroli, with Patricia Strübin’s “Take Care” winning the Pardino d’Argento for the National Competition. Charlyne Genoud was honored with the Best Swiss Newcomer Award for “Respirer une fois sur trois.” The Locarno Kids Award was given to Marleen Valien’s “Paradeisa,” and the Pardo for Change Award went to Amartei Armar’s “Our Time Will Come,” with special mentions for “The Newcomers” and “Private Property.”

Independent juries also bestowed numerous honors. The Ecumenical Jury Award went to Hong Sangsoo’s “Nowhere to Lay My Eyes,” while the FIPRESCI Prize was awarded to “Far From the Trees” by Meritxell Colell Aparicio. “You Don’t Belong Here” by Florin Şerban continued its winning streak by taking the Europa Cinemas Label and the Junior Jury’s First Prize. Other Junior Jury awards included “Nobody’s Violence” (Second Prize), “Manhunt” (Third Prize), and a special mention for “D’ici là.” The Critics’ Week Grand Prix was awarded to Kamila Serwicka’s “Blossoming,” and Olivier Séror and Martin Verdet’s “Only the Serpent Knows” received the Marco Zucchi Award. The 79th Locarno Film Festival concluded with a gala screening of French director Marc Fitoussi’s meta film-industry comedy “All About Corinne,” starring Isabelle Huppert and Sandrine Kiberlain.