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LOCARNO IN FOCUS Locarno Festival Official Juries – 2025
Concorso Internazionale Jury The Concorso Internazionale features works shown primarily as world premieres, coming from all over the globe and competing for the prestigious Pardo d’oro. Related biographies Rithy Panh Joslyn Barnes Ursina Lardi Carlos Reygadas Renée Soutendijk Learn more
Emma Thompson to Receive Leopard Club Award at Locarno78
The Leopard Club Award will be awarded to Emma Thompson on the night of Friday, August 8, 2025. Locarno78 will also be premiering Thompson’s highly anticipated thriller The Dead of Winter by Brian Kirk on the Piazza Grande. © Nick Haddow Academy, BAFTA, Golden Globe, and Emmy Award-winning Emma Thompson is one of the UK’s most recognizable and beloved actors, with a career in acting, writing, and producing that spans...
The Official Poster for Locarno78 designed by Wolfgang Tillmans
The poster for the 78th edition of the Locarno Film Festival, depicting a leopard on a tree branch amid an acid trance of yellow and purple abstraction, was exclusively created by Turner Prize-winning German artist Wolfgang Tillmans for the Festival. ©Wolfgang Tillmans Internationally regarded as one of the most influential and prolific artists of our time, Wolfgang Tillmans’ impact extends beyond the art world into music and pop culture...
Rithy Panh Will Serve as Jury President at Locarno78
The internationally acclaimed Cambodian filmmaker, chronicler of his country’s traumas and gradual social recovery, will serve as jury president of the Concorso Internazionale, overseeing the process that will decide the winner of the Pardo d’Oro – the Golden Leopard – at the 78th Locarno Film Festival this August. Ph. © Bophana Center Acclaimed...
Golshifteh Farahani to Receive Excellence Award Davide Campari
The Locarno Film Festival’s prestigious Excellence Award Davide Campari will be presented to internationally acclaimed actress Golshifteh Farahani during Locarno78, on the night of Wednesday, August 6, 2025. Golshifteh Farahani will also present her most recent film, Julia Ducournau’s Alpha, which premiered this year in competition at Cannes, and will take part in a public conversation with the festival audience. Photo ©&nbs...
VIDEO Locarno 78 LivestreamOfficial Selection 2025
Live from Luma Westbau in Zurich the official selection for the 78ᵗʰ Locarno Film Festival has been revealed. Join a global community of cinephiles and dive into Locarno78’s highly anticipated competitive programs and special presentations. ...
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VENICE IN FOCUS
Exciting line-up for the Venezia 82 competition with a dazzling array of A-Listers
Venezia 82 The Wizard of the Kremlin Director Olivier Assayas Main Cast Paul Dano, Jude Law, Alicia Vikander, Tom Sturridge, Jeffrey Wright / France / 120’ Jay Kelly Director Noah Baumbach Main Cast George Clooney, Adam Sandler, Laura Dern, Billy Crudup, Riley Keough, Grace Edwards, Stacy Keach, Jim Broadbent, Patrick Wilson, Eve Hewson, Greta Gerwig, Alba Rohrwacher, Josh Hamilton, Lenny Henry, Emily Mortimer, Nicôle Lecky,...
Venice Winston Baker Film ad TV Finance Forum Speaker Additions
Winston Baker’s 2nd Annual Film & Television Finance Forum Venice will bring together high-level entertainment executives to discuss the state of the industry, finance strategies, international partnerships & co-productions, distribution trends and more! ...
2025 Venice Immersive Selection and Competition Unveils 69 projects from 27 countries
Members of the International Jury Include: Eliza McNitt (President), Gwenael François, Boris Labbé The selection of projects for Venice Immersive, the XR - Extended Reality section of the 82nd Venice International Film Festival (27th August – 6th September 2025) of La Biennale di Venezia, is now complete. Launched in 2017, the section represents the first competition and official selection for works in Extended Reality in an A-list festiv...
Sofia Coppola, Gus van Sant, Julian Schnabel, Werner Herzog, Marco Bellocchio, Yann Arthus-Bertrand to screen out of competition
Fiction Boşluğa xütbə (Sermon to the Void) Director Hilal Baydarov Main Cast Huseyn Nasirov, Maryam Naghiyeva, Rana Asgarova, Elshan Abbasov, Orkhan Iskandarli / Azerbaijan, Mexico, Turkey / 112’ L’isola di Andrea Director Antonio Capuano Main Cast Teresa Saponangelo, Vinicio Marchioni, Andrea Migliucci / Italy / 105’ Il Maestro Director Andrea Di Stefano Main Cast Pierfrancesco Favino, Tizia...
Final Cut in Venice 2025 - The 8 selected work-in-progress films
La Biennale di Venezia is proud to announce that the 13. edition of Final Cut in Venice, organised as part of the Venice Production Bridge (Aug 28 - Sep 3, 2025), has selected 8 work-in-progress films. Final Cut in Venice is the industry program that has been providing since 2013 concrete support in the completion of films from all African countries and from six countries of the Middle East: Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria and Yemen. Fi...
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PEOPLE IN FOCUS
Introducing NATPE 2026 Advisory Board
We're excited to introduce the industry leaders who are shaping the agenda for NATPE Global 2026, helping to curate an invaluable program for the global community of buyers, distributors and producers who annually convene at the largest international market in North America. This year's event is guided by two dynamic content boards: one focused on the overall agenda, and a second dedicated to the new Scripted strand. Both bring deep expertise and insights to ensure NATPE Glob...
Filmmaker Arif Khan wins Samuel Lawrence Foundation Award 2025
Rio de Janeiro / Chicago - The International Uranium Film Festival has presented this year's "Samuel Lawrence Foundation Award" for Best Emerging Filmmaker. The winner is Tokyo-based British filmmaker Arif Khan for his immersive VR documentary "Address Unknown: Fukushima Now.“ „It's such wonderful news and we couldn't be more thrilled. It's a true honour & privilege for us to receive the Award from the Uranium Film Festival&ld...
> INDIA IN FOCUS by Siraj Syed Ajit Rai, film and theatre journalist, and biographer of the Hindujas, dies in London
Ajit Rai, film and theatre journalist, and biographer of the Hindujas, dies in London Last week, I received the news of the passing away of veteran film and theatre journalist, and the man who chronicled the ventures of the billionaire Hindujas into the film industry, Ajit Rai. He died in his sleep, in London, while staying at a friend’s place, yesterday. He was 58. Originally from Bihar, Ajit was a wandering soul, and travelled to various places in and outside India, wherever t...
Saiyaara, Review: Forget it
Saiyaara, Review: Forget it Saiyaara or Sayyara or Sayyaaraa, Saiyaaraa is a word derived from Arabic and an integral part of the Urdu language. It could refer to a star, a planet or anything that travels. The word saer/sair, which means ‘taking a tour of’ or ‘wandering’ is derived from this root, or maybe the other way round. Saira is a common name among Muslims, and the most famous Saira in India is Saira Banu, the wife of acting icon Dilip Kumar. There was a song in...
Krishna Arjun, Review: A one-shot movie that experiments within a formula
Krishna Arjun, Review: A one-shot movie that experiments within a formula Hemwant Tiwari (no typo here; it is HemWant, and not Hemant) released Krishna Arjun on YouTube, on 27 March this year. More than three months later, he organised a press show, on 02 July 2025, at the IMPPA mini-theatre, in Andheri, Mumbai. Here, he revealed that even after a year of having shown his film to the Central Board of Film Certification, he was..