Meet the juries of Locarno77

Some of the most distinctive voices of contemporary cinema feature in the juries of Locarno77, tasked with awarding the Pardo d’Oro and other coveted prizes on the closing day of the Festival, August 17.

As was previously announced, Austrian director Jessica Hausner will serve as president of the Jury that awards the Pardo d’Oro to the filmmakers in the Concorso Internazionale (International Competition). Hausner will be joined by Italian star Luca Marinelli (Martin Eden, The Eight Mountains, and the eagerly awaited tv series M. Il figlio del secolo), Indian filmmaker Payal Kapadia – whose All We Imagine as Light (2024) won the Grand Prix at Cannes this spring – influential Belgian producer Diana Elbaum (Elle, Green Border), and US actor, writer, director, and producer, and regular Coen brothers collaborator Tim Blake Nelson, who also stars in Vincent Grashaw’s Bang Bang (2024), which premieres in Fuori Concorso (Out of Competition).

Deciding the winner of the Pardo d’Oro – Concorso Cineasti del Presente (Filmmakers of the Present), the section for emerging directors in their first or second feature, will be Nigerian filmmaker C.J. “Fiery” Obasi – a familiar face at Locarno whose Juju Stories (2021) featured in Concorso Internazionale at Locarno74 – French-Palestinian-Algerian filmmaker and actor Lina Soualem, whose widely acclaimed Bye Bye Tiberias was one of the most awarded documentaries last year, and former Cahiers du cinéma editor, scholar and artistic director of the Cannes’ Semaine de la Critique Charles Tesson.

The jury tasked with spotlighting the best short films decides several competitive awards given in the three competitions of Pardi di Domani (Leopards of Tomorrow). These are Italian scriptwriter, director, programmer, and mentor for Red Sea Souk, Licia Eminenti, influential Malagasy curator, filmmaker, fashion designer and founder of the Madagascourt Film Festival Laza Razanajatovo, and respected French producer Juliette Schrameck (Eat the Night, The Worst Person in the World, Cold War).

Meanwhile, the winner of the Swatch First Feature Award will be decided by Moroccan producer-director Khalil Benkirane, a past Artistic Director of the San Francisco Arab Film Festival and current Head of Grants program at the Doha Film Institute, rising Finnish star Alma Pöysti – known for her leading role in Aki Kaurismäki’s Fallen Leaves (2023) and as the founder of the Moomins in Tove (2020) – and prominent Swiss-Italian make-up designer Esmé Sciaroni, a former recipient of the Festival’s Premio Cinema Ticino whose recent work has included, among many others, La chimera (2023) by Alice Rohrwacher.

Finally, cinema has a small but decisive role to play in shifting attitudes on the climate crisis. The Pardo Verde, supported by the Ente Regionale per lo Sviluppo del Locarnese e Vallemaggia, recognizes films that contribute to awareness and decisive action, upending stale consensus. The Pardo Verde Jury will be composed of Swiss-Rwandan artist, writer, and director Kantarama Gahigiri, French programmer and film critic Cédric Succivalli, and Swiss sustainability adviser, journalist, and arts manager Daniel Wiener.

Giona A. Nazzaro, Artistic Director of the Locarno Film Festival: “It is a tremendous privilege to welcome these talented artists and programmers to Locarno and to entrust them with the films our selection committees handpicked from the thousands that were presented to us. It is through their creative gazes that this year’s official selection will be introduced to the world; we can’t think of a better entry point for these films to become part of the global conversation. There are so many stories that have not yet been told and only the most generous gazes can reveal them to us. It is a wonderful challenge, and we remain deeply grateful that our juries accepted to do this task on everybody’s behalf and for everybody’s benefit.”