Locarno Pro, the industry platform of the Locarno Film Festival, unveiled the winners for three of its flagship initiatives on Sunday night (August 9): work-in-progress showcase First Look, co-development platform Alliance 4 Development, and the Locarno Heritage Restoration Contest.
First Look
The 15th edition of Locarno Pro’s works-in-progress section First Look focused this year on six feature films in post-production from Uruguay, in partnership with ACAU.
Spring Story (Historia de Primavera) by Gabriela Guillermo and Irina Raffo, produced by Guillermo and Raffo for Uruguay’s L’Avventura Cine and Germán Ormaechea for Animista Cine, won two awards: the Bright Side of the Moon First Look Award, which comes with complete colour grading services, and the Le Film Français Award, worth €5,600 in advertising space.
The film, about a fevered love affair sparked by a meeting in Montevideo’s botanical gardens, was praised by the jury “for its candid depiction of longing and desire which connects those who dare to be driven by it.”
The Surubí (El Surubí) by Lorenzo Tocco, produced by Pancho Magnou Arnabal and Isabel García of Uruguay’s Montelona and co-produced by Brazil’s Kocria, took home three awards: the La Mayor Cine Award, which comes with complete sound post-production services, the Music Library & SFX/Acorde Award, worth €45,000 in music supervision services at Music Library & SFX’s labs, and the Jannuzzi Smith Award, the design of an international poster worth €10,000. The film sees a declining industrial town transformed overnight by the miraculous apparations, prompting locals to market the town as a mystical tourism destination.
The First Look awards were handed out by an international jury, comprising of Ana David, a programme advisor at the Berlinale, Susana Santos Rodrigues, co-director of IndieLisboa, and Triin Tramberg, artistic director of Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival.
Alliance 4 Development
Co-development platform Alliance 4 Development showcased projects from Austria, France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland.
Yazz by Florian Hoffmann, produced by Katrin Renz of Switzerland’s tellfilm, Nicole Gerhards of Germany’s NiKo Film and Xénia Maingot of France’s Eaux Vives Productions took home both the Nebel Studios Award, estimated at €33,000 (CHF30,500) for three days of studio use and five days of camera equipment, and the Studio13/Valais Film Commission Award, estimated at €13,000 (CHF 12,000) for five days of studio use at Studio13.
Shooting Watermelons (Sparare alle Angurie) by Antonio Donato, produced by Santiago Fondevila Sancet of Italy’s Cinedora, received the Masé Studios Award, worth a €3,200 (CHF 3,000) cash voucher.
The Masé Studios Post-Production Award, worth €27,000 (CHF 25,000) in post-production services, was shared by Cuore Matto by Tamer Ruggli, produced by Francine Lusser and Gérard Monier of Switzerland’s Tipimages Productions, and Magnetic Storms (Les Orages Magnétiques) by Wendy Pillonel, produced by Flavia Zanon (of Switzerland’s Close Up Films.
Jessica Puppo’s Reign of Silures (Le Règne des Silures), produced by Alexis Perrin of France’s Rumble Fish Productions, won the Ticino Film Commission Residence Award: a two-day location scout worth €4,300 (CHF 4,000) plus a Letter of Intent for financial support up to €13,000 (CHF 12,000) should the film shoot in Ticino.
Bruce LaBRUCE’s Third Take, produced by Nicolas Brevière of France’s Local Films, took the Alphapanda Market Breakout Award with consultancy services worth €3,500, and Magnetic Storms also picked up the MIDPOINT Consulting Award, an online script consultancy with a MIDPOINT Institute expert.
Heritage Restoration Contest
Locarno’s Heritage Restoration Contest 2026 was won by 1997’s Nous Sommes Tous Encore Ici (We’re All Still Here) by Anne-Marie Miéville, a three-part meditation on philosophy and everyday life featuring Jean-Luc Godard in a rare on-screen role.
The film will undergo a complete restoration by film lab Cinegrell, premiering at the 2027 edition of the festival.
It was selected by an international jury composed of Amy Homma, director and president of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures and Academy Collection, Leslie Vuchot, CEO and founder of The Festival Agency, and Nicole T. Allemann, head of film restoration and lab at Cinegrell Postproduction.
The jury said in a statement: “First presented at the Festival in 1997, Nous Sommes Tous Encore Ici is an essential work of Swiss cinema by one of the country’s leading female directors. In the year of its 30th anniversary, this restoration offers a long-overdue opportunity to rediscover both the film and the work of a major filmmaker, whose contribution to Swiss cinema deserves renewed recognition, as Locarno approaches its 80th edition.”
Now in its fourth edition, the Contest previously honored Letter From My Village (1976) by Safi Faye, The Cannibals (1969) by Liliana Cavani, and Mulher de Verdade (1954) by Alberto Cavalcanti.
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