In Piazza Grande, the audience is the jury
Since 2000 the Prix du public UBS, the only official award of the Festival to be awarded by the Piazza Grande audience, has been presented to films that are destined to become part of film history.
The Prix du Public UBS makes the audience its protagonist, allowing those in Locarno to rate the Piazza Grande films digitally, by scanning the QR-Code on your ticket or on the back cover of the Pardo Daily.
For more than 20 years, everyone with a ticket for a screening in Piazza Grande has been able to vote for their favorite film showing on Europe’s biggest outdoor screen. The audience decides which director will win the only official prize awarded by the public at the Locarno Film Festival.
Voting is possible from anywhere, anytime – either scan the QR code on paper tickets or click on the voting link on digital ones.
All participants get the chance to win daily Premium Tickets to Locarno78 in 2025 and be entered into the final gift voucher prize draw for an unforgettable holiday in Switzerland!
Over the years, the votes of the public in Locarno have proven to be an important indicator of a movie’s commercial success. In 2019, Spike Lee’s film BlacKkKlansman won an Academy Award only a few months after receiving the Prix du Public UBS.
The winning film’s director will receive a cash prize of CHF 30,000 and was presented with the Prix du Public at the official award ceremony on Saturday, 17 August 2024.
Giving space to the voice of the audience is an integral part of the longstanding partnership UBS has had with the Locarno Film Festival since 1981.
