Locarno Film Festival concludes with major awards

The 79th Locarno Film Festival has concluded, drawing over 150,000 attendees and showcasing 233 films, including 103 world premieres. The festival maintained its international focus, addressing contemporary global issues such as the war in Ukraine, the situation in Palestine, and repression in Iran.

Florin Serban was awarded the Pardo d’Oro for the film ‘You Don’t Belong Here’ (Nu e locul tau aici), a 154-minute Romanian production exploring the strained relationship between a single father and his teenage son amidst societal intolerance.

In the Swiss category, Domenico Singha Pedroli won the Pardino d’Oro SSR for his short film ‘Typhoon Mambo’. The film, which explores themes of grief, memory, and artificial intelligence, follows a protagonist interacting with a deceased husband via a chatbot. Pedroli, an architecture graduate from the University of Lugano, noted that his architectural background influences his cinematic approach to space and place.