What changed at Locarno
The 79th Locarno Film Festival unveiled its 2026 awards on 15 August, with the Pardo d'Oro – Grand Prize of the Festival going to Romanian director Florin Şerban's Nu E Locul Tau Aici (You Don't Belong Here) in the international competition. The prize carries CHF 75,000, shared equally between the director and the producer. The festival jury cited the film "for the strength of its writing, the singularity of its vision, and its exceptional command of cinematic language." Şerban's father-son drama, set in a small town, follows a man raising his teenage son Ioan after his wife's death, only to learn the police suspect his son of murder. The film also received a special performance mention for its young star Teodor Butănescu and was named a Junior Jury first-prize winner. The director's return to feature filmmaking after eight years was a recurring note in the jury and trade coverage.
Who won the major competition prizes
The international competition's special jury prize, worth CHF 30,000, went to A Margem do Rio (The Riverbank) by Matheus Farias and Enock Carvalho, a Brazil/Germany co-production. Hong Sangsoo's Nun Dul Dega Eomne (Nowhere to Lay My Eyes), a South Korean family drama, took the Pardo for Best Direction and the CHF 20,000 director's prize. The gender-neutral Pardo for Best Performance was shared between Kim Minhee for Nowhere to Lay My Eyes and Monica Bellucci for Giovanni Tortorici's Italian coming-of-age film Ketticè. Special performance mentions went to Xavier Bergeron for Denis Côté's Violence du Corps de L'Autre (cited as "Nobody's Violence" in some coverage) and to Butănescu. The international jury also awarded the Europa Cinemas Label to You Don't Belong Here.
Filmmakers of the Present and first-feature honors
In the parallel Filmmakers of the Present Competition, Argentine director Alessandra Sanguinetti's La Ilusión De Un Verano Sin Fin (The Illusion of an Everlasting Summer) won the Golden Leopard, with the filmmaker also taking the Swatch First Feature Award and its CHF 15,000 prize. Best emerging director went to Beatrice Gibson for At Night, with the special jury prize awarded to Mohanad Yaqubi's Revolutionaries Never Die. Best performance honors were shared by Idrissu Tontie Jr. for Our Time Will Come and Manal Issa for Summer Meadow, with special mentions for Lucila Mariani's The Days Off and Ana Vaz's Hanabi.
Other notable awards and special honors
The Pardo for Change, worth CHF 20,000, went to Amartei Armar for Ego Reach We All (Our Time Will Come), with special mentions for Rodrigo Plá's Los Nuevos (The Newcomers) and Deepak Rauniyar's Private Property. In the Leopard of Tomorrow shorts competition, the international prize went to Elham Ehsas's Hershewe Fazanawerd (Forgotten Spaceman), with Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke's The Bovine Comedy named best auteur short and Filip Anthonissen's Melk winning best international short. The Semaine de la Critique Grand Prix went to Kamila Serwicka's A Teraz Wiosna (Blossoming), and the Ecumenical Jury award and a FIPRESCI prize for Far From the Trees rounded out independent-jury recognitions. The Environment Is Quality of Life prize was awarded to Isabelle Stever's I Rarely Wake Up Dreaming, with a special mention for Sarah Leonor's D'Ici Là.
What remains uncertain
Independent industry coverage framed the film as a study of anti-Roma racism, a reading not explicitly included in the festival jury's own citation. The first-source, headliner.nl, also emphasized the anti-Roma subject; the official Locarno citation instead emphasized writing, vision and cinematic language.
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