The Ecumenical Jury in Locarno 2025 awarded its Prize to ‘Solomamma’ by Janicke Askevold from Norway and a Commendation to ‘Le Lac’ by Fabrice Aragno from Switzerland. ‘Le Lac’ also received the First Prize of the Junior Jury. The Golden Leopard went to ‘Tabi to hibi’ (Two Seasons, Two Strangers) by Sho Miyake from Japan. The International Film Critics' Prize (Fipresci) was awarded to ‘Dry Leaf’ by Alexandre Koberidze, a German-Georgian co-production.
The 78th Locarno Film Festival opened on August 6 with Tamara Stepanjan's film “Le pays d'Arto” (In the Land of Arto, France, Armenia 2025) on the Piazza Grande. The Ecumenical Jury, which has been established in 1974, awards its prize to a film in the International Competition that uses artistic creativity to raise viewers' awareness of human, social, and religious values. The prize is worth CHF 10,000, donated by the Reformed Churches and the Catholic Church of Switzerland.
The retrospective, for which the festival has long been renowned, has been entitled “Great Expectations” for 2025 and was dedicated to British post-war cinema from 1945 to 1960. It comprised more than 40 contributions. The Honorary Golden Lion went to Greek-American director Alexander Payne (About Schmidt, 2002; The Descendants, 2011).