The Locarno Film Festival has selected 103 world premieres for its 2026 edition (August 5-15), including new films by Hong Sangsoo, Denis Cote, Maria Back, Ann Oren and Basil Da Cunha.
The 17-strong Concorso Internazionale includes Nowhere To Lay My Eyes, the latest film from prolific, low-budget Korean filmmaker Hong. It is the director’s 12th feature film since 2020, with Hong having debuted features at the Berlinale in each of the last seven editions as well as By The Stream at Locarno in 2024.
Scroll down for the full list of features
Nobody’s Violence, by Canadian filmmaker Cote, is about a travelling girl offering euthanasia services in a dystopian world.
Brave New Love is a contemporary love story directed by Sweden’s Back, about a married hypnotherapist having a deeply romantic affair while trying to be a role model for her daughter. Kathrine Thorborg Johansen, Anders Danielsen Lie and Simon Sears lead the cast.
Oren, the co-director of Piaffe, is in competition with Objet a, following two hand surgeons with differing desires, before one suffers an accident that forces her to slow down.
Da Cunha’s O Jacaré, is a Switzerland-Portugal co-production set in a Lisbon suburb where a cast of colourful local characters dream of getting their hands on a robbery haul.
Additionally, the Concorso Cineasti del Presente competition is comprised of 15 world premieres, including Beatrice Gibson’s BBC Film-backed At Night, following six women roaming neon-lit Paris after dark. It is produced by Somesuch’s Scott O’Donnell, whose recent credits include Harris Dickinson’s Cannes 2025 selection Urchin. Somesuch was selected as one to watch on Screen’s Brit50 list of the top UK independent production companies last year.
Out of competition titles at Locarno include Albert Serra’s Sixteen Moments Of My Life, documenting German actress and singer Ingrid Caven.
The festival’s spectacular Piazza Grande screenings will include the world premiere of Dario Albertini’s Armony starring Valerio Mastandrea and Asia Argento, the European premiere of Petra Volpe’s Frank & Louis with Kingsley Ben-Adir and Rob Morgan, and Swiss premieres of Olivia Wilde’s The Invite and James Gray’s Paper Tiger.
As previously announced, the festival will present honorary awards to director Darren Aronofsky, and actresses Virginie Efira and Argento.
Locarno director Giona A. Nazzaro referenced ongoing global conflicts in his remarks about the 2026 programme.
“Here we are: tracing our steps back through the programme we assembled – bringing together perspectives and visions, stories and reflections, contemplations and breathless adventures, testing the limits of our reasoning and tirelessly questioning the present moment – we find ourselves faced with a magnificent world, majestic in its wounded beauty, complex and demanding, traversed by terrible conflicts and which, despite everything, still offers itself to our gaze,” wrote Nazzaro.
Locarno Film Festival 2026 lineup
*denotes world premiere
Piazza Grande
The Green Eyes (Fr-Bel-Swe) dirs. Fanny Liatard, Jeremy Trouilh*
Armony (It) dir. Dario Albertini*
Wild At Heart (US) dir. David Lynch
I Is Another (Ger-Austria) dir. Felix Randau*
Dances With Wolves (US-UK) dir. Kevin Costner
The Invite (US) dir. Olivia Wilde
Taxi Driver (US) dir. Martin Scorsese
Paper Tiger (US) dir. James Gray
Frank & Louis (Switz-UK) dir. Petra Volpe
Congo Boy (CAF-Fr-DRC-It) dir. Rafiki Fariala
Down The Arm Of God (Fr-US) dir. Peter Brunner*
The Chilean (It-Chile-Switz) dir. Sergio Castro-San Martin*
Love Lessons (Fr-Bel) dir. Martin Provost*
All About Corinne (Fr-Bel) dir. Marc Fitoussi*
Concorso Internazionale
The Riverbank (Braz-Ger) dirs. Matheus Farias, Enock Carvalho*
Wandering Trees (It) dir. Salvatore Mereu*
Brave New Love (Den-Swe-Gr) dir. Maria Back*
D’Ici Là (Fr) dir. Sarah Leonor*
I Rarely Wake Up Dreaming (Ger-Ukr) dir. Isabelle Stever*
Ketticè (It) dir. Giovanni Tortorici*
Far From The Trees (Sp-Peru-It) dir. Meritxell Colell Aparicio*
Manhunt (Can) dir. Wayne Wapeemukwa*
You Don’t Belong Here (Rom) dir. Florin Serban*
Nowhere To Lay My Eyes (S Kor) dir. Hong Sangsoo*
O Jacaré (Switz-Por) dir. Basil Da Cunha*
Objet A (Ger-Lux-Gr) dir. Ann Oren*
Donkey Princess (Chile-Fr-Uru-Neth-Ger) dirs. Cristobal Leon, Joaquin Cocina*
Rehmat (India-Fr) dir. Gurvinder Singh*
The House On The Moon (Sing-Tai-Ger-Indonesia) dir. Nelson Yeo*
Hearing (Viet-Sing-Nor-Fr-Indonesia) dir. Le Bao*
Nobody’s Violence (Can) dir. Denis Cote*
Concorso Cineasti del Presente
At Night (UK-Fr) dir. Beatrice Gibson*
Demons (Ukr-Pol) dir. Natalka Vorozhbyt*
Destroy All Girls (US) dir. Erin Vassilopoulos*
Our Time Will Come (Gha-Fr) dir. Amartei Armar*
Fire Flower (Fr-Braz) dir. Ana Vaz*
The Illusion Of An Everlasting Summer (Arg-US) dir. Alessandra Sanguinetti*
Summer Meadow (Bel-Fr) dir. Nael Khleifi*
The Days Off (Arg-Braz-Mex) dir. Lucila Mariani*
Magic Atlas (Sing) dir. Sun Xun*
Tomorrow A Long Time Ago (Ger) dir. Luise Donschen*
Revolutionaries Never Die (Pal-Bel-Qat) dir. Mohanad Yaqubi*
September Afternoon (Ger) dir. Nicolaas Schmidt*
Small Talk (Switz) dir. Mateo Ybarra*
Tear Gas (Geo-Fr-Ger) dir. Uta Beria*
In All My Journeys I Am Returning (Col) dir. Manuel Ponce de Leon*
Fuori Concorso
Happiness Is So Close! (Switz) dir. Francois-Christophe Marzal*
Atcha Atcha (Sen-Fr) dir. Mamadou Dia*
Bakma (Tun) dir. Abdelhamid Bouchnak*
Bloody Tennis (Ger) dir. Nikias Chyssos*
Bruton (US) dir. Vincent Grashaw*
The Angel Maker (Switz) dir. Marina Klauser*
Asphalt Guerrilla (Por) dir. Edgar Pera*
Marco Bellocchio: La Porta Della Realtà (It) dir. Fabio Lovino*
Roma Elastica (Fr-It) dir. Bertrand Mandico
Sixteen Moments Of My Life (Fr-Sp) dir. Albert Serra*
Sundown (Can) dir. Rebekah McKendry*
Transition (Ger) dirs. Peter Badel, Chris Wright*
Semaine de la Critique
Blossoming (Pol) dir. Kamila Serwicka*
As Light As Air (Pak) dir. Umair Bilal*
Concrete Land (Jor-Pal) dir. Asmahan Bkerat*
Gabin (Fr-Ger-Switz) dir. Maxence Voiseux
The Victors (Arg) dir. Pablo Aparo
Petrolheads (Den) dir. Emil Langballe
Only The Serpent Knows (Fr) dirs. Olivier Seror, Martin Verdet
Panorama Suisse
Silent Rebellion (Switz-Bel-Fr) dir. Marie-Elsa Sgualdo
Elephants & Squirrels (Switz) dir. Gregor Brandli
I Love You, I Leave You (Switz) dir. Moris Freiburghaus
The Beauty Of The Donkey (Switz-Kos-Fr-US) dir. Dea Gjinovci
The Currents (Switz-Arg) dir. Milagros Mumenthaler
Memory Of Princess Mumbi (Switz-Ken-S Arab) dir. Damien Hauser
No One Will Hurt You (Switz) dir. Dino Hodic
Qui Vit Encore (Switz-Fr-Pal-UK) dir. Nicolas Wadimoff
You Believe In Angels, Mr Drowak? (Ger-Switz) dir. Nicolas Steiner
Tristan Forever (Switz) dirs. Tobias Nolle, Loran Bonnardot
No comments yet