Locarno’s newly minted jury also features Swiss actor Ursina Lardi and Dutch star Renée Soutendijk, rounding out what artistic director Giona A. Nazzaro calls “visionary artists … still able to be moved by discoveries and surprises.” Panh, who has chronicled Cambodia’s troubled history on film for three decades, said he hopes to champion works that “celebrate the diversity of viewpoints and experiences that enrich our understanding of the world.”
The expanded jury will evaluate a record 17‑film Concorso Internazionale slate drawn from an overall programme of 221 titles, including 99 world premieres. World premieres range from Radu Jude’s 170‑minute meta‑Dracula to Abdellatif Kechiche’s long‑awaited Mektoub, My Love: Canto Due and Jafar Panahi’s Iranian‑French thriller It Was Just an Accident. “Cinema is playful, takes risks, dreams and provokes,” Nazzaro said while unveiling the lineup, framing the selection as a Künstler‑response to what he termed “violent upheavals” in the wider world.
Outside the competition, the festival’s open‑air Piazza Grande will host nightly screenings for up to 8,000 spectators, beginning with Tamara Stepanyan’s Armenian‑French drama In the Land of Arto and closing with Bill Condon’s new adaptation of Kiss of the Spider Woman. Other gala slots include Brian Kirk’s alpine survival tale The Dead of Winter and Jackie Chan’s remastered Police Story, part of a tribute that will see the action legend accept the Leopard Career Award.
Locarno will also bestow special honours on Oscar‑winning writer‑director Alexander Payne (Leopard of Honour), British actor‑writer Emma Thompson (Leopard Club Award) and trail‑blazing U.S. star Lucy Liu, who brings the world premiere of Rosemead to the lakeside city. With its industry strand “First Look” spotlighting Canadian projects and sponsors such as Swatch renewing support, the festival aims to reinforce its position as Europe’s boldest laboratory for auteur cinema while keeping one eye on the global marketplace.
