The Locarno Film Festival’s Locarno Pro industry strand on Sunday unveiled the winners of its industry awards, including its First Look works-in-progress section focusing on projects on the verge of completion, the co-development program Alliance 4 Development, the Antaviana Spanish Previews Award, and the fourth Heritage Restoration Contest.
The winners were unveiled during the Locarno Pro Award Ceremony on Sunday. The promising feature film projects that competed for the First Look awards were from this year’s focus country, Uruguay.
The 79th edition of the Locarno Film Festival runs until Aug. 15.
Check out the full list of Locarno Pro winners below.
FIRST LOOK
Works-in-progress section, with a 2026 focus on Uruguay.
Bright Side of the Moon First Look Award
Complete color grading services.
Historia de primavera (Spring Story) – dir. Gabriela Guillermo and Irina Raffo, prod. Gabriela Guillermo and Irina Raffo (L’Avventura Cine), Germán Ormaechea (Animista Cine).
Synopsis: “In Montevideo’s Botanical Garden, a fleeting encounter ignites a fevered love between Agustín and Bruno. As Bruno departs for Venice, desire persists across oceans, entangling a Spinozist professor and rival passions. Between philosophy and flesh, jealousy and freedom, spring unfolds as a restless search for love, nature, and the fragile ethics of attachment.”
Jury statement: “For its candid depiction of longing and desire which connects those who dare to be driven by it.”
La Mayor Cine Award
Complete sound post-production services.
El Surubí (The Surubí), dir. Lorenzo Tocco, prod. Pancho Magnou Arnabal and Isabel García (Montelona), co-prod. Kocria (Brazil).
Synopsis: “The Surubí, an industrial town on the verge of disappearing, is transformed overnight into the scene of a series of miraculous apparitions. Locals seize the opportunity to market the town as a destination for mystical tourism. But divine power is a dangerous weapon, especially in a town desperately in need of a savior.”
Music Library &SFX/Acorde Award
Music supervision services at Music Library & SFX’s labs worth EUR 45,000.
El Surubí (The Surubí), see above
Jannuzzi Smith Award
The design of an international poster worth EUR 10,000.
El Surubí (The Surubí), see above
Le Film Français Award
EUR 5,600 of advertising space.
Historia de primavera (Spring Story), see above
ALLIANCE 4 DEVELOPMENT
Co-development platform.
Nebel Studios Award
Estimated value of CHF 30,500 for three days of studio use and five days of camera equipment.
Yazz by Florian Hoffmann, prod. Katrin Renz (tellfilm GmbH, Switzerland), Nicole Gerhards (NiKo Film, Germany), Xénia Maingot (Eaux Vives Productions, France).
Synopsis: “As a teenager Yasmine – Yazz – grows up on a UN compound in the Central African Republic, caught between barbed wire, privilege and danger. A secret escape to see her local boyfriend Joseph ends in an accident that tears her family apart. Ten years later, her mother reappears in Switzerland – with Joseph by her side. Forced to face her first love and her own guilt, Yazz must ask whether old wounds can truly heal, or only scar.”
Statement: “What really struck us about Yazz is its unique and very personal perspective on a world we think we know, but rarely see from the inside. The project has also shown to be at an incredibly advanced stage of development that has already received strong recognition, with experienced co-production partners on board, great talent attached and development funding secured in Switzerland – confirming our belief in the project’s artistic and production potential.”
Masé Studios Award
CHF 3,000 in cash.
Sparare alle Angurie (Shooting Watermelons) – dir. Antonio Donato, prod. Santiago Fondevila Sancet (Cinedora, Italy).
Synopsis: “During a difficult separation, an authoritarian father takes his two grown sons on a summer vacation without their mother for the first time. As they try to survive without her, the gap between them widens, especially when a wealthy foreign family arrives, stirring envy and rivalry. When a strong storm forces them to stay indoors, old wounds and hidden fears surface, revealing their struggle to connect and their quiet wish to stay together as a family.”
Masé Studios Post-Production Award
CHF 25,000 in post-production services.
Ex aequo winners:
Cuore Matto – dir. Tamer Ruggli, prod. Francine Lusser, Gérard Monier (Tipimages Productions, Switzerland)
Synopsos: “Bienne, 1969. Matteo, 17, dreams of becoming an actor and escaping his father and a grey industrial town. Sent to Ticino for the harvest, he discovers a vibrant, sensual world with Lucio and Alba, awakening desire and identity. At home, his mother Giusi, trapped in an oppressive marriage, begins her own quiet emancipation. Carried by Italian songs, their parallel journeys intertwine in a queer and feminist coming-of-age musical about freedom, love and reinvention.”
and
Les Orages Magnétiques (Magnetic Storms) – dir. Wendy Pillonel, prod. Flavia Zanon (Close Up Films, Switzerland).
Synopsis: “As she prepares to compete in crucial selections, Jo, a brash young rugby talent, finds herself without a phone, stranded with her mother in an Italian village where the ground is shaking. Angry and obsessed with returning to Switzerland, she secretly contacts her father, convinced he’ll help her. But his arrival upsets the fragile balance she believed she could control. Jo realizes she can no longer protect the silence surrounding her father’s behavior. As the ground and her world gradually crumble around her, she chooses to break free, not only from fear, but above all from complicity.”
Studio13/Valais Film Commission Award
Estimated value of CHF 12,000 for five days of studio use at Studio13.
Yazz, see above
Ticino Film Commission Residence Award
Two-day location scout (CHF 4,000) plus a letter of intent for financial support up to CHF 12,000 if the project films in Ticino.
Le Règne des Silures (Reign of Silures) – dir. Jessica Puppo, prod. Alexis Perrin (Rumble Fish Productions, France).
Synopsis: “Maïa is a devoted concierge at a luxury thermal palace on the shores of Lake Geneva, where giant catfish – silures – are burned as scapegoats for a plague that cracks human skin like parched earth. When her teenage sister Léonie is placed in her care, the hotel seals itself off as a gilded fortress from the dying world beyond. As fissures begin to spread across her own body, Maïa must choose between the palace that gave her a place in the world and the sister who reminds her what it cost.”
Statement: “We were particularly struck by the project’s strong and organic connection to the Swiss-Italian landscape. Its themes of environmental fragility, social inequality, labour and belonging resonate strongly with the identity of our region. We were also impressed by Jessica Puppo’s distinctive cinematic voice and by the ambitious combination of author filmmaking, ecological storytelling and body horror.”
Alphapanda Market Breakout Award
Consultancy services valued at EUR 3,500.
Third Take – dir. Bruce LaBruce, prod. Nicolas Brevière (Local Films, France).
Synopsis: “Set in a not-so-distant future, two iconic actresses, once madly in love, reunite in a drought-stricken villa, isolated from the world for a chaotic film shoot destined to become the epiphany of their decayed romance.”
Statement: “The winner of the Alphapanda Market Breakout Award is a cinematic explosion of campness and queerness, but also an hommage to the history of film with a truly cinephile approach. Thanks to its five lesbian characters played by goddesses of cinema, we are convinced that the film will make audiences happy, disgusted and wet.”
MidPoint Consulting Award
Online script consultancy with a MidPoint Institute expert.
Les Orages Magnétiques (Magnetic Storms), see above
LOCARNO HERITAGE RESTORATION CONTEST
A complete restoration by film lab Cinegrell. The restored film will celebrate its premiere at the 2027 edition of the Locarno Film Festival.
Nous sommes tous encore ici (We’re All Still Here, 1997) – dir. Anne-Marie Miéville, represented by Anne-Marie Miéville and L’atelier / Casa Azul Films.
Jury statement: “First presented at the festival in 1997, Nous sommes tous encore ici is an essential work of Swiss cinema by one of the country’s leading female directors. In the year of its 30th anniversary, this restoration offers a long-overdue opportunity to rediscover both the film and the work of a major filmmaker, whose contribution to Swiss cinema deserves renewed recognition, as Locarno approaches its 80th edition.”
