On Thursday, the Locarno International Film Festival revealed the lineup for its 79th session, which includes the latest films by the likes of South Korean Hong Sang-soo (Now, then error), former winner of the festival’s Golden Leopard and former winner of the Locarno Nelson U Prize (Dream and death) from Singapore in the international competition program. The lineup also includes a new film by Spanish director Albert Serra (An afternoon of solitude) in a place outside the competition.
Locarno 2026, which will take place from August 5 to 15, will also present new works by American film directors Irene Vassilopoulos (The finest(and Vincent Grashow)keep calm), Senegalese Mamadou Dia (Demba), Portuguese Edgar Pera (Telepathic messages), Canadian Denis Côté (Vic and Flo saw a bear) and Wayne Wabimokwa (Luke’Loki
).
Meanwhile, world premieres and some of this season’s film festival favorites and classics will be screened in Locarno’s main Piazza Grande section, taking place in the city’s 8,000-seat main square. Includes world premieres to be seen there Ni fio, ni kunu(All about Corinne ) Written by Mark Fitoussi, starring Isabelle Huppert, Emmanuelle Bercot and Diane Kruger, directed by Felix Randau. This is more important(I am another ) with Claes Bang, Valerie Pachner, Susan West, and Arm meWritten by Dario Albertini, whose cast includes Asia Argento and Ornella Muti.
“Back to Locarno with House on the moon “It feels like the stars have aligned. A few years ago, it seemed like reaching for the moon — and we did. I’m so grateful to our amazing cast and crew for embarking on this journey with me and making my childhood dream come true,” Yeo said in a statement.
Overall, the festival will screen 223 films, including 103 world premieres, four more than last year. Organizers said the films come from “up to 69 production and co-production countries.” Locarno also highlighted a record 7,759 applications, up nearly 22 percent from 2025.
Locarno revealed that 25% of his films were directed by women, including five out of 17 films in the international competition, or 29.4%.
Giona Nazzaro, Artistic Director of Locarno, described the program this way: “An adventurous selection, full of surprises, that addresses the challenges of the present without ever sacrificing the joy of storytelling and entertainment.”
He added: “Our film is a selection of films deliberately set against the complexities of our present day, which explore and reflect the transformations currently taking place within cinema and in the wider audiovisual sector. Cinema, then, in all its forms and possibilities. A cinema that explores genres and styles with curiosity in search of the spark of the future that we all need.”
See the Locarno Film Festival lineup for its main competition and other key sections below:
Concorso Internazionale (International competition)
Margem do Rio (Riverside) by Matthews Farias, Enoch Carvalho
Brazil, Germany – 2026
Kaikeyi Kopek, Italo Martins, Arteia Luanda, Reina Costa, Roberio Diogenes, Isis Broquin
World premiere
Alberi Eranti (The Wandering Trees) by Salvatore Miro
Italy – 2026
Romeo Pironi, Giulia Mainza, Lorenzo Richelmi, Lopo Barbero, Eduardo Raiola
World premiere
Brave New Love by Maria Buck
Denmark, Sweden, Greece – 2026
Katherine Thorborg Johansen, Anders Danielsen-Lee, Simon Sears, Noemi Carbone-Manoff, Angeliki Papoglia
World premiere
D’ICI LÀ by Sarah Leonor
France – 2026
Frank Beauvais, Dinara Drokarova, Luisa Ora, Dimitri Doré, Letitia Duch, Jean-Louis Scheidecker, Fatou Deco, Adrien Michaud, David Pfeiffer
World premiere
I Rarely Wake Up Dreaming by Isabel Stiver
Germany, Ukraine – 2026
Tanya Mironishina, Marcus Bright, Irina Mack, Viktor Zhdanov, Maya Sobolevska, Maria Mironishina, Oleksandr Rudinsky
World premiere
KETTICÈ by Giovanni Tortorici
Italy – 2026
Salvatore Gallina, Rachel Testagrossa, Monica Bellucci
World premiere
LEJOS DE LOS ÁRBOLES (Away from the Trees) by Meritxell Colell Aparicio
Spain, Peru, Italy – 2026
Angelica Castillo, José Luis López Cama, Teresita Sanchez, Caterina Ramírez Gualar
World premiere
MANHUNT by Wayne Wabimokwa
Canada – 2026
Harris Lowe, Landon Tonold, Bianca Focht, Dilara Focht
World premiere
NU E LOCUL TAU AICI (You Don’t Belong Here) by Florin Serban
Romania – 2026
Adrian Fanceca, Teodor Botanescu, Cristina Richter, Alex Cunovaro, Izdraela Janer
World premiere
NUN DUL DEGA EOMNE (There’s Nowhere to Put My Eyes) by Hong Sang-soo
South Korea – 2026
Kim Minhee, Choi Myunggil, Kwon Haehyo, Shin Seoko, Park Miso
World premiere
Oh Jacare by Basil da Cunha
Switzerland, Portugal – 2026
Alexandra Senna, Alexander Fonseca, Paulo Cesar Lima Fonseca, Nelson Carvalho, Pedro Diniz, Heder Correa, Carlos Fonseca, Pedro Ferreira, Frederico Lopez, Veronica Li, Maria Santos, Susana Costa, Ivo Bernardo, Carloto Cota, Felipe Vargas
World premiere
Object A by Anne Oren
Germany, Luxembourg, Greece – 2026
Anne Schwartz, Louis Hoffman, Simone Bosio, Georg Friedrich, Sofia Kokali
World premiere
Princesa Porro (The Donkey Princess) by Cristobal León, Joaquín Cocina
Chile, France, Uruguay, Netherlands, Germany – 2026
Antonia Jessen, Andrew Bargested, Francisco Melo
World premiere
“Mercy” by Gurvinder Singh
India, France – 2026
Naseeruddin Shah, Suvinder Vicky, Diya Kamboj, Mita Vashisht, Harwinder Aujla, Jaswant Zafar, Navjot Randhawa, Anita Meet, Inder Bajwa, Sahi Aziz, Jasmanpreet Singh, Kavnoor Kaur.
World premiere
House on the Moon by Nelson Yu
Singapore, Taiwan, Germany, Indonesia – 2026
Shi-An Lim, Akira Huang, Harry Chang, Dominique Rostom, Li Kang-sheng
World premiere
THÍNH GIÁC (LISTENING) Written by Lê Bảo
Vietnam, Singapore, Norway, France, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Cambodia, Thailand and Taiwan – 2026
Nguyen Quic Ton, Ngoc Ton, Van Ha, Chi Linh, Khanh Huyen
World premiere
VIOLENCE DU CORPS DE L’AUTRE (The Violence of Nobody) by Denis Côté
Canada – 2026 Larissa Corriveau, Philippe Ribot, Xavier Bergeron, Gabriel Lazur, Beret Robitaille
World premiere
Concorso sinisti del principale (Filmmakers nowadays Competition for the first and second advantage)
Into the Night by Beatrice Gibson
United Kingdom, France – 2026
World premiere
The Devil(s) by Natalka Vorouzbet
Ukraine, Poland – 2026
World premiere
Destroy All the Girls by Erin Vassilopoulos
United States of America – 2026
World premiere
Ego Gets to All of Us (Our Time Will Come) by Amarti Armar
Ghana, France – 2026
World premiere
Hanabi (Fire Flower) by Anna Vaz
France, Brazil – 2026
World premiere
LA ILUSIÓN DE UN VERANO SIN FIN (The Illusion of Eternal Summer) by Alessandra Sanguinetti
Argentina, USA – 2026
World premiere
“Lestif (Summer Meadow)” by Nael Khleifi
Belgium, France – 2026
World premiere
Los DÍAS LIBRES (Days Off) by Lucila Mariani
Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, France – 2026
World premiere
The Magic Atlas by Sun Xun
Singapore – 2026
World premiere
Morgen für Langer Zeit (Long Time Tomorrow) by Louise Donchen
Germany – 2026
World premiere
Revolutionaries never die, Muhannad Al-Yaqoubi
Palestine, Belgium, Qatar – 2026
World premiere
September Afternoon by Nicholas Schmidt
Germany – 2026
World premiere
A Little Conversation by Mateo Ybarra
Switzerland – 2026
World premiere
Tear Gas by Ota Perea
Georgia, France, Germany – 2026
World premiere
TODOS MIS VIAJES SON VIAJES DE REGRESO (In All My Travels I Will Return) by Manuel Ponce de León
Colombia – 2026
World premiere
Instant Concurso (out of competition)
Ah, that’s what’s going on! (Happiness is so close!) by François Christophe Marzal
Switzerland – 2026
World premiere
Acha Acha by Mamadou Dia
Senegal, France – 2026
World premiere
“With a Summit” by Abdelhamid Bouchnak
Tunisia – 2026
World premiere
The Bloody Tennis of Nicias Chrysos
Germany – 2026
World premiere
Proton by Vincent Grashow
United States of America – 2026
World premiere
Der Engelmacher (The Angelmaker) by Marina Clauser
Switzerland – 2026
series
World premiere
Guerrilla La Asfalto (Guerrilla Asphalt) by Edgar Pera
Portugal – 2026
World premiere
Marco Bellocchio: LA PORTA DELLA REALTÀ Written by Fabio Lovino
Italy – 2026
World premiere
Roma Elastica by Bertrand Mandico
France, Italy – 2026
International premiere
Seize these moments in (Sixteen Moments of My Life) by Albert Serra
France, Spain – 2026
World premiere
Sunset by Rebecca McKendry
Canada – 2026
World premiere
ÜBERGANG (Transition) by Peter Buddle and Chris Wright
Germany – 2026
World premiere
Short film
Tombe des Rives (Tomb of Dreams) by F.G. Osang
France – 2026
World premiere
Piazza Grande Program
Grande Square
August 5
LES YEUX VERTS (The Green Eyes) by Fanny Liatard and Jérémie Trouille
France, Belgium, Sweden – 2026
Doaa Boutarboush Mazuki, Sayed Alami, Annamaria Vartolomi, Arkady Redif, Omar Al-Jubai
World premiere
August 6
Armoni by Dario Albertini
Italy – 2026
Valerio Mastandrea, Asia Argento, Clara Tramontano, Pamela Schettino, Ornella Muti
World premiere
August 6 – Second show
Wild at Heart by David Lynch
United States of America – 1990
Nicolas Cage, Laura Dern, Willem Dafoe, Isabella Rossellini, J.E. Freeman
August 7
ICH IST EIN ANDERER (I am another) by Felix Randau
Germany, Austria – 2026
Claes Bang, Valerie Bachner, Susanne West, Timosin Ziegler, Martin Müller
World Premiere *
August 7 – Second show
Dances with Wolves by Kevin Costner
USA, UK – 1990
Kevin Costner, Mary McDonnell, Graham Greene, Rodney A. Grant
August 8
The Invitation by Olivia Wilde
United States of America – 2026
Seth Rogen, Olivia Wilde, Penelope Cruz, Edward Norton
The first Swiss offer
August 8 – Second show
Taxi Driver by Martin Scorsese
United States of America – 1976
Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Albert Brooks, Cybill Shepherd, Harvey Keitel 659070]August 9
Paper Tiger by James Gray
United States of America – 2026
Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson, Miles Teller
The first Swiss offer
August 10
Frank and Louis by Petra Volpi
Switzerland, United Kingdom – 2026
Kingsley Ben-Adir, Rob Morgan, Rene Perez Juglar, Rosalind Eleazar, Indira Varma
European premiere
August 11
Congo Boy written by Rafiki Farreal
Central African Republic, France, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Italy – 2026
Bradley Fimona Dembisit, Christy Djomanda Luba, Petrush Mbumba, Rosianna Kutozia, Gloria Ambako, Diovera Sanna, Carlos Sovesant Gihoro, David Ningandu, Hubert Ngbolu, Zara Lucy Dubow, Busoro Kibale, Berthe Ngbolo, Miguel Mbegwemel, Blessing Diaba, Ludmila Fada, Yudice. Jadzo “Vizo”, Arshib Marvin, Japhet Kondjia “KMJ”
The first Swiss offer
August 12
Beneath the Arm of God by Peter Bruner
France, USA – 2026
Caleb Landry Jones, India Marie Cross, Nick Stahl, Mena Suvari, John B. W. Jones
World premiere
August 13
IL CILENO (Chile) by Sergio Castro San Martin
Italy, Chile and Switzerland – 2026
Camilo Arancibia, Sarah Ciraiocco, Andrew Bargested, Gaetano Bruno, Lorenzo Richelmi
World premiere
August 14
DEMAIN JE TOMBE AMOUREUX (Love Lessons) by Martin Provost
France, Belgium – 2026
Fabrice Luchini, Emmanuelle Devos, Chiara Mastroianni, Carole Bouquet
World premiere
August 15
NI VUE, NI CONNUE (All About Corinne) by Mark Fitoussi
France, Belgium – 2026
Isabelle Huppert, Sandrine Keberlein, Anne Mariven, Emmanuelle Bercot, Anna Girardeau, Diane Kruger
World premiere
