The Locarno International Film Festival on Thursday unveiled the lineup for its 79th edition, and it includes the latest films from the likes of South Korea’s Hong Sangsoo (Right Now, Wrong Then), a former Golden Leopard winner at the fest and past Locarno award winner Nelson Yeo (Dreaming & Dying) from Singapore in the international competition program. Also part of the lineup is a new movie from Spain’s Albert Serra (Afternoons of Solitude) in an out-of-competition spot.
Locarno 2026, taking place Aug. 5-15, will also present new works from U.S. filmmakers Erin Vassilopoulos (Superior) and Vincent Grashaw (Keep Quiet), Senegal’s Mamadou Dia (Demba), Portugal’s Edgar Pêra (Telepathic Letters), Canada’s Denis Côté (Vic and Flo Saw a Bear) and Wayne Wapeemukwa (Luk’Luk’I).
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Meanwhile, world premieres, some of this season’s film festival favorites and classics will screen in Locarno’s main Piazza Grande section, taking place on the town’s main square set up with 8,000 seats. World premieres to be watched there include Ni Vue, Ni Connue (All About Corinne) by Marc Fitoussi, starring Isabelle Huppert, Emmanuelle Bercot and Diane Kruger, Felix Randau’s Ich Ist ein Anderer (I Is Another) with Claes Bang, Valerie Pachner and Susanne Wuest, and Armony by Dario Albertini, whose cast includes Asia Argento and Ornella Muti.
“Returning to Locarno with The House on the Moon feels like the stars have aligned,” said Yeo in a statement. “A few years ago, this felt like reaching for the moon — and we have. I’m so grateful to our fantastic cast and crew for embarking on this journey with me and bringing a childhood dream to life.”
Overall, the fest will screen 223 films, including 103 world premieres, four more than last year. The films originate from “up to 69 countries of production and co‑production,” organizers said. Locarno also highlighted a record 7,759 submissions, up nearly 22 percent from 2025.
Locarno disclosed that 25 percent of its features were directed by women, including five out of 17 films in the international competition, or 29.4 percent.
Giona A. Nazzaro, Locarno’s artistic director, described the program this way: “An adventurous selection, full of surprises, which tackles the challenges of the present without ever sacrificing the pleasures of storytelling and entertainment.”
He added: “Ours is a selection of films deliberately set against the complexities of the present day, which explores and reflects on the transformations currently taking place within cinema and in the wider audiovisual sector. Cinema, then — in all its forms and possibilities. A cinema that curiously explores genres and styles in search of that spark of the future we all need.”
Check out the Locarno film festival’s lineup for its main feature competition and other key sections below:
Concorso Internazionale (International Competition)
A MARGEM DO RIO (THE RIVERBANK) by Matheus Farias, Enock Carvalho
Brazil, Germany – 2026
Caique Copque, Ítalo Martins, Artia Lauandah, Renna Costa, Robério Diógenes, Ísis Broken
World premiere
ALBERI ERRANTI (WANDERING TREES) by Salvatore Mereu
Italy – 2026
Romeo Perrone, Giulia Maenza, Lorenzo Richelmy, Lupo Barbiero, Edoardo Raiola
World premiere
BRAVE NEW LOVE by Maria Bäck
Denmark, Sweden, Greece – 2026
Kathrine Thorborg Johansen, Anders Danielsen Lie, Simon Sears, Noemi Carbone Mannov, Angeliki Papoulia
World premiere
D’ICI LÀ by Sarah Leonor
France – 2026
Frank Beauvais, Dinara Droukarova, Louiza Aura, Dimitri Doré, Laetitia Dosch, JeanLouis Scheidecker, Fatou Dicko, Adrien Michaux, David Faivre
World premiere
I RARELY WAKE UP DREAMING by Isabelle Stever
Germany, Ukraine – 2026
Tania Myronyshena, Markus Bright, Iryna Mak, Viktor Zhdanov, Maiia Sobolevska, Maria Myronyshena, Oleksandr Rudynskyi
World premiere
KETTICÈ by Giovanni Tortorici
Italy – 2026
Salvatore Gallina, Rachele Testagrossa, Monica Bellucci
World premiere
LEJOS DE LOS ÁRBOLES (FAR FROM THE TREES) by Meritxell Colell Aparicio
Spain, Peru, Italy – 2026
Angélica Castelló, Jose Luis López Cama, Teresita Sánchez, Caterina Ramirez Guallar
World premiere
MANHUNT by Wayne Wapeemukwa
Canada – 2026
Harris Lowe, Landon Tunold, Bianca Foscht, Dilara Foscht
World premiere
NU E LOCUL TAU AICI (YOU DON’T BELONG HERE) by Florin Șerban
Romania – 2026
Adrian Văncică, Teodor Butănescu, Cristina Richter, Alex Conovaru, Izdrailă Janir
World premiere
NUN DUL DEGA EOMNE (NOWHERE TO LAY MY EYES) by Hong Sangsoo
South Korea – 2026
Kim Minhee, Choi Myeonggil, Kwon Haehyo, Shin Seokho, Park Miso
World premiere
O JACARÉ by Basil Da Cunha
Switzerland, Portugal – 2026
Alexandra Sena, Alexandre Fonseca, Paulo César Lima Fonseca, Nelson Carvalho, Pedro Diniz, Heidir Correia, Carlos Fonseca, Pedro Ferreira, Frederico Lopes, Verónica Lii, Maria Santos, Susana Costa, Ivo Bernardo, Carloto Cotta, Filipe Vargas
World premiere
OBJET A by Ann Oren
Germany, Luxembourg, Greece – 2026
Aenne Schwarz, Louis Hofmann, Simone Bucio, Georg Friedrich, Sofia Kokkali
World premiere
PRINCESA BURRO (DONKEY PRINCESS) by Cristóbal León, Joaquín Cociña
Chile, France, Uruguay, Netherlands, Germany – 2026
Antonia Giesen, Andrew Bargsted, Francisco Melo
World premiere
REHMAT by Gurvinder Singh
India, France – 2026
Naseeruddin Shah, Suvinder Vicky, Diya Kamboj, Mita Vasisht, Harwinder Aujla, Jaswant Zafar, Navjot Randhawa, Anita Meet, Inder Bajwa, Sahej Aziz, Jasmanpreet Singh, Kavnoor Kaur
World premiere
THE HOUSE ON THE MOON by Nelson Yeo
Singapore, Taiwan, Germany, Indonesia – 2026
Shi-An Lim, Akira Huang, Harry Chang, Dominick Rustam, Lee Kang-sheng
World premiere
THÍNH GIÁC (HEARING) by Lê Bảo
Vietnam, Singapore, Norway, France, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Cambodia, Thailand, Taiwan – 2026
Nguyễn Quốc Tuấn, Ngọc Tản, Vân Hà, Chí Linh, Khánh Huyền
World premiere
VIOLENCE DU CORPS DE L’AUTRE (NOBODY’S VIOLENCE) by Denis Côté
Canada – 2026 Larissa Corriveau, Philippe Rebbot, Xavier Bergeron, Gabrielle Lazure, Pierrette Robitaille
World premiere
Concorso Cineasti del Presente (Filmmakers of the Present Competition, for first and second features)
AT NIGHT by Beatrice Gibson
United Kingdom, France – 2026
World premiere
DEMONY (DEMONS) by Natalka Vorozhbyt
Ukraine, Poland – 2026
World premiere
DESTROY ALL GIRLS by Erin Vassilopoulos
USA – 2026
World premiere
EGO REACH WE ALL (OUR TIME WILL COME) by Amartei Armar
Ghana, France – 2026
World premiere
HANABI (FIRE FLOWER) by Ana Vaz
France, Brazil – 2026
World premiere
LA ILUSIÓN DE UN VERANO SIN FIN (THE ILLUSION OF AN EVERLASTING SUMMER) by Alessandra Sanguinetti
Argentina, USA – 2026
World premiere
L’ESTIVE (SUMMER MEADOW) by Naël Khleifi
Belgium, France – 2026
World premiere
LOS DÍAS LIBRES (THE DAYS OFF) by Lucila Mariani
Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, France – 2026
World premiere
MAGIC ATLAS by Sun Xun
Singapore – 2026
World premiere
MORGEN VOR LANGER ZEIT (TOMORROW A LONG TIME AGO) by Luise Donschen
Germany – 2026
World premiere
REVOLUTIONARIES NEVER DIE by Mohanad Yaqubi
Palestine, Belgium, Qatar – 2026
World premiere
SEPTEMBER AFTERNOON by Nicolaas Schmidt
Germany – 2026
World premiere
SMALL TALK by Mateo Ybarra
Switzerland – 2026
World premiere
TEAR GAS by Uta Beria
Georgia, France, Germany – 2026
World premiere
TODOS MIS VIAJES SON VIAJES DE REGRESO (IN ALL MY JOURNEYS I AM RETURNING) by Manuel Ponce de León
Colombia – 2026
World premiere
Fuori Concorso (Out of Competition)
AH QUE LE BONHEUR EST PROCHE ! (HAPPINESS IS SO CLOSE!) by François-Christophe Marzal
Switzerland – 2026
World premiere
ATCHA ATCHA by Mamadou Dia
Senegal, France – 2026
World premiere
BAKMA by Abdelhamid Bouchnak
Tunisia – 2026
World premiere
BLOODY TENNIS by Nikias Chryssos
Germany – 2026
World premiere
BRUTON by Vincent Grashaw
USA – 2026
World premiere
DER ENGELMACHER (THE ANGEL MAKER) by Marina Klauser
Switzerland – 2026
Series
World premiere
GUERRILHA NO ASFALTO (ASPHALT GUERRILLA) by Edgar Pêra
Portugal – 2026
World premiere
MARCO BELLOCCHIO: LA PORTA DELLA REALTÀ by Fabio Lovino
Italy – 2026
World premiere
ROMA ELASTICA by Bertrand Mandico
France, Italy – 2026
International premiere
SEIZE MOMENTS DE MA VIE (SIXTEEN MOMENTS OF MY LIFE) by Albert Serra
France, Spain – 2026
World premiere
SUNDOWN by Rebekah McKendry
Canada – 2026
World premiere
ÜBERGANG (TRANSITION) by Peter Badel, Chris Wright
Germany – 2026
World premiere
Short Film
TOMBE DES RÊVES (TOMB OF DREAMS) by F.J. Ossang
France – 2026
World premiere
Piazza Grande Program
Piazza Grande
August 5
LES YEUX VERTS (THE GREEN EYES) by Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh
France, Belgium, Sweden – 2026
Douae Butarbuch M’Zaouki, Sayyid El Alami, Anamaria Vartolomei, Arcadi Radeff, Omar Al Jbaai
World premiere
August 6
ARMONY by Dario Albertini
Italy – 2026
Valerio Mastandrea, Asia Argento, Clara Tramontano, Pamela Schettino, Ornella Muti
World premiere
August 6 – Second Screening
WILD AT HEART by David Lynch
USA – 1990
Nicolas Cage, Laura Dern, Willem Dafoe, Isabella Rossellini, J.E. Freeman
August 7
ICH IST EIN ANDERER (I IS ANOTHER) by Felix Randau
Germany, Austria – 2026
Claes Bang, Valerie Pachner, Susanne Wuest, Timocin Ziegler, Martin Müller
World premiere*
August 7 – Second Screening
DANCES WITH WOLVES by Kevin Costner
USA, United Kingdom – 1990
Kevin Costner, Mary McDonnell, Graham Greene, Rodney A. Grant
August 8
THE INVITE by Olivia Wilde
USA – 2026
Seth Rogen, Olivia Wilde, Penélope Cruz, Edward Norton
Swiss premiere
August 8 – Second Screening
TAXI DRIVER by Martin Scorsese
USA – 1976
Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Albert Brooks, Cybill Shepherd, Harvey Keitel
August 9
PAPER TIGER by James Gray
USA – 2026
Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson, Miles Teller
Swiss premiere
August 10
FRANK & LOUIS by Petra Volpe
Switzerland, United Kingdom – 2026
Kingsley Ben-Adir, Rob Morgan, René Pérez Joglar, Rosalind Eleazar, Indira Varma
European premiere
August 11
CONGO BOY by Rafiki Fariala
Central African Republic, France, Democratic Republic of Congo, Italy – 2026
Bradley Fiomona Dembeasset, Christy Djomanda Louba, Pétruche Mbomba, Rosiana Kotozia, Gloria Ambacko, Dieufera Sana, Carlos Suffisant Djihoro, David Ningando, Hubert Ngbolo, Zara Lucie Dobo, Bossoro-Kiabale, Berthe Ngbolo, Miguel Mbiguimale, Blessing Diaba, Ludmila Fada, Eudes Gadzo “Veyzo”, Archippe Marvine, Japhet Koundjia “KMJ”
Swiss premiere
August 12
DOWN THE ARM OF GOD by Peter Brunner
France, USA – 2026
Caleb Landry Jones, India Marie Cross, Nick Stahl, Mena Suvari, John P.W. Jones
World premiere
August 13
IL CILENO (THE CHILEAN) by Sergio Castro-San Martín
Italy, Chile, Switzerland – 2026
Camilo Arancibia, Sara Serraiocco, Andrew Bargsted, Gaetano Bruno, Lorenzo Richelmy
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 Marc Fitoussi
France, Belgium – 2026
Isabelle Huppert, Sandrine Kiberlain, Anne Marivin, Emmanuelle Bercot, Ana Girardot, Diane Kruger
World premiere
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