72nd Locarno Film Festival

72nd Locarno Film Festival

Official poster of the 72nd Locarno Film Festival by Jannuzzi Smith.
Opening film	Magari
Closing film	To the Ends of the Earth
Location	Locarno, Switzerland
Founded	1946
Awards	Golden Leopard (Vitalina Varela)
Festival date	7–17 August 2019
Website	Website
Locarno Film Festival chronology
73rd 71st

The 72nd annual Locarno Festival was held from 7 August to 17 August 2019. ^[1] The debut feature by Italian director-producer Ginevra Elkann's Magari opened the festival, and Kiyoshi Kurosawa's To the Ends of the Earth was screened as closing film. ^[2]

The Golden Leopard, the festival's top prize, was awarded to Vitalina Varela directed by Pedro Costa. ^[3]

Juries

International Competition

• Catherine Breillat, French filmmaker, novelist and professor - Jury President
• Ilse Hughan, Dutch producer
• Emiliano Morreale, Italian film critic
• Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, Argentinian actor
• Angela Schanelec, German filmmaker

Filmmakers of the Present

• Jake Perlin, American producer - Jury President
• Shengze Zhu, Chinese filmmaker and producer
• Yolande Zauberman, French filmmaker

Leopards of Tomorrow

• Bi Gan, Chinese filmmaker - Jury President
• Alice Diop, French filmmaker
• Mike Plante, American short films programmer at Sundance Film Festival

Moving Ahead

• Michael Boyce Gillespie, American film theorist and historian - Jury President
• Aline Schmid, Swiss producer
• Eduardo Williams, Argentinian filmmaker

Best First Feature Prizes

• Margherita Chiti, Italian distributor - Jury President
• Frédéric Jaeger, German artistic director of Berlin Critics’ Week
• Jacqueline Lyanga, American festival director

Sections

Piazza Grande

English title	Original title	Director	Production country
7500		Patrick Vollrath	Germany, Austria
Adoration		Fabrice Du Welz	Belgium, France
Camille		Boris Lojkine	France
Days of the Bagnold Summer		Simon Bird	United Kingdom
Diego Maradona		Asif Kapadia
Instinct		Halina Reijn	Netherlands
The Girl with a Bracelet	La Fille au bracelet	Stéphane Demoustier	France, Belgium
A Letter to Freddy Buache	Lettre à Freddy Buache	Jean-Luc Godard	France
If Only (Opening Film)	Magari	Ginevra Elkann	Italy, France
New Acid		Basim Magdy	France, Switzerland
Notre Dame		Valérie Donzelli	France, Belgium
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood		Quentin Tarantino	United States
To the Ends of the Earth (Closing Film)	Tabi no Owari Sekai no Hajimari	Kiyoshi Kurosawa	Japan, Uzbekistan, Qatar

International Competition (Concorso internazionale)

English title	Original title	Director(s)	Production country
The Fever	A Febre	Maya Da-Rin	Brazil, France, Germany
Echo	Bergmål	Rúnar Rúnarsson	Iceland, France, Switzerland
Cat in the Wall		Mina Mileva, Vesela Kazakova	Bulgaria, United Kingdom, France
A Voluntary Year	Das freiwillige Jahr	Ulrich Köhler  [ de ], Henner Winckler	Germany
Douze Mille		Nadège Trebal	France
During Revolution	Fi Al-Thawra	Maya Khoury	Syria, Sweden
The Science of Fictions	Hiruk-pikuk si al-kisah	Yosep Anggi Noen	Indonesia, Malaysia, France
Maternal	Hogar	Maura Delpero	Italy, Argentina
Isadora's Children	Les Enfants d'Isadora	Damien Manivel	France, South Korea
Endless Night	Longa noite	Eloy Enciso	Spain
O Fim do Mundo		Basil Da Cunha	Switzerland
Height of the Wave	파고	Park Jung-bum	South Korea
Technoboss		João Nicolau	Portugal, France
South Terminal	Terminal Sud	Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche	France
The Last Black Man in San Francisco		Joe Talbot	United States
Vitalina Varela		Pedro Costa	Portugal
A Girl Missing	よこがお	Koji Fukada	Japan, France

Filmmakers of the Present (Concorso Cineasti del presente)

English title	Original title	Director(s)	Production country
143 Sahara Street	143 rue du désert	Hassen Ferhani	Algeria, France, Qatar
Bird Island	L'Île aux oiseaux	Maya Kosa, Sergio da Costa	Switzerland
The Cold Raising The Cold	Lengmo weiyang lengmo	Rong Guang Rong	Italy
The Dove and the Wolf	La Paloma y el Lobo	Carlos Lenin	Mexico
Ham on Rye		Tyler Taormina	United States
Here for Life		Andrea Luka Zimmerman, Adrian Jackson	United Kingdom
Ivana the Terrible	Ivana cea Groaznica	Ivana Mladenović	Romania, Serbia
Love Me Tender		Klaudia Reynicke	Switzerland
Mariam		Sharipa Urazbayeva	Kazakhstan
Nafi's Father	Baamum Nafi	Mamadou Dia	Senegal
Oroslan		Matjaž Ivanišin	Slovenia, Czech Republic
Overseas		Yoon Sung-a	Belgique, France
Space Dogs		Elsa Kremser, Levin Peter	Austria, Germany
The Tree House	Nhà Cây	Minh Quý Trương	Singapore, Vietnam, Germany, France, China
Wonders in the Suburbs	Merveilles à Montfermeil	Jeanne Balibar	France
The Young Observant	L'apprendistato	Davide Maldi	Italy

Moving Ahead

English title	Original title	Director(s)	Production country
(tourism studies)		Joshua Gen Solondz	United States
A Topography of Memory		Burak Çevik	Turkey, Canada
Black Hole		Emmanuel Grimaud, Arnaud Deshayes	France
Color-blind		Ben Russell	France, Germany
Distancing		Miko Revereza	United States
The Giverny Document (Single Channel)		Ja'Tovia M. Gary	United States, France
In Memoriam		Jean-Claude Rousseau	France
The Invisible Hand		Omer Fast	China, Germany
Kasiterit		Riar Rizaldi	Indonesia
Krabi, 2562		Ben Rivers, Anocha Suwichakornpong	United Kingdom, Thailand
Lore		Sky Hopinka	United States
The Sun, the Sun Blinded Me		Anka Sasnal, Wilhelm Sasnal	Poland, Switzerland
Osmosis	Shān Zhī Běi	Zhou Tao	China
Ralf's Colors	Ralfs Farben	Lukas Marxt	Austria, Germany, Spain, France
Swinguerra		Bárbara Wagner, Benjamin de Burca	Brazil
Those That, at a Distance, Resemble Another		Jessica Sarah Rinland	United Kingdom, Argentina, Spain
Un film dramatique		Éric Baudelaire	France

Leopards of Tomorrow (Pardi di domani)

International Competition (Concorso internazionale)

English title	Original title	Director(s)	Production country
16 December	16 de decembro	Alvaro Gago	Spain
A Street Under	Chão de Rua	Tomas von der Osten	Brazil
All Come From Dust		Younes Ben Slimane	Tunisia
All the Fires the Fire		Efthimis Kosemund Sanidis	Greece
The Animal	Tskhoveli	Amiran Dolidze	Georgia
Black Sun	Siyah güneş	Arda Çiltepe	Turkey, Germany
Cobalt Blue	Pyar pyar nyo yaung maing ta-lei-lei	Aung Phyoe	Myanmar
Companions of the Cave	Ahlou al kahef	Fakhri El Ghezal	Tunisia
Dossier of the Dossier		Sorayos Prapapan	Thailand
Douma Underground	Douma that al ard	Tim Alsiofi	Lebanon, Syria
Enduring Body	Râang Ton Taan	Ukrit Sa-nguanhai	Thailand
Eyes on the Road		Stefanie Kolk	Netherlands
Father	Vader	Isabel Lamberti	Netherlands
Flesh	Carne	Camila Kater	Brazil, Spain
The Furniture Maker	El hacedor de muebles	David Aviles	Cuba
How to Tell a True Immigrant Story		Aggie Ebrahimi Bazaz	United States
In Vitro		Larissa Sansour, Søren Lind	United Kingdom, Palestine, Denmark
The Last Image of Father	Poslednja slika o ocu	Stefan Djordjevic	Serbia
Leave of Absence	Otpusk	Anton Sazonov	Russia
Mom's Movie		Stella Kyriakopoulos	Greece, Spain
Mthunzi		Tebogo Malebogo	South Africa
Our Territory	Notre territoire	Mathieu Volpe	Belgium
Sheep, Wolf and a Cup of Tea...	Moutons, loup et tasse de thé...	Marion Lacourt	France
Shiver of Love	Frisson d'amour	Maxence Stamatiadis	France
Tide	Marée	Manon Coubia	Belgium, France
Umbilical		Danski Tang	United States
Unfinished	Incompiuta	Samira Guadagnuolo, Tiziano Doria	Italy
Volcano: What Does a Lake Dream?	Vulcão: O Que Sonha um Lago?	Diana Vidrascu	France, Portugal, Romania
White Afro		Akosua Adoma Owusu	Ghana, United States

Swiss Competition (Concorso nazionale)

English title	Original title	Director(s)	Production country
A Summer Morning	Un matin d'été	Patrick Muroni	Switzerland
Aline		Simon Guélat	Switzerland, France
All Cats Are Grey in the Dark	Nachts sind alle Katzen grau	Lasse Linder	Switzerland
At the Pool	À la piscine	Consuelo Frauenfelder, Stefan Lauper
Azure Memories	L'azzurro del cielo	Enea Zucchetti
Life is One of the Simplest	Das Leben ist eines der Leichtesten	Marion Nyffenegger
Mama Rosa		Dejan Barac	Switzerland
Sas		Léa Célestine Bernasconi	Switzerland
Still Working		Julietta Korbel
Silent Storm	Tempête silencieuse	Anaïs Moog
Terminal		Kim Allamand

Official Awards

The following awards were presented for films shown In Competition:

International Competition

• Golden Leopard: Vitalina Varela by Pedro Costa
• Special Jury Prize: Height of the Wave by Park Jung-bum
• Best Direction Award: Damien Manivel for Isadora's Children
• Best Actor Award: Regis Myrupu for The Fever
• Best Actress Award: Vitalina Varela for Vitalina Varela
• Special Mentions:
  • The Science of Fictions by Yosep Anggi Noen
  • Maternal by Maura Delpero
• Swatch First Feature Awards: Nafi's Father by Mamadou Dia

Filmmakers of the Present

• Golden Leopard - Filmmakers of the Present: Nafi's Father by Mamadou Dia
• Best Emerging Director: Hassen Ferhani for 143 sahara street
• Special Jury Prize: Ivana the Terrible by Ivana Mladenović
• Special Mention: Here for Life by Andrea Luka Zimmerman and Adrian Jackson

Moving Ahead

• Moving Ahead Award: The Giverny Document (Single Channel) by Ja'Tovia M. Gary
• Special Mentions:
  • Those That, at a Distance, Resemble Another by Jessica Sarah Rinland
  • Osmosis by Zhou Tao

Leopards of Tomorrow

• Pardino d'oro for the Best International Short Film – SRG SSR Prize: Black Sun by Arda Çiltepe
• Pardino d'oro for the Best Swiss Short Film – Swiss Life Prize: Mama Rosa by Dejan Barac
• Pardino d'argento SSR SRG for the international competition: Umbilical by Danski Tang
• Pardino d'argento Swiss Life for the national competition: Silent Storm by Anaïs Moog
• Pardi di domani Best Direction Prize: Anton Sazonov for Leave of Absence

References

1. "Information of the 72nd Film Festival". Archived from the original on 17 August 2019. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
2. "The 72nd Locarno Film Festival announces its opening and closing titles" . Retrieved 12 July 2019.
3. Weissberg, Jay (17 August 2019). "Pedro Costa's 'Vitalina Varela' Triumphs at Locarno Film Festival". Variety. Retrieved 25 September 2025.

External links

• Official website