Locarno77 Premieres Win Big at the Swiss Film Awards

Locarno triumphs at the Swiss Film Awards! Last Friday March 21, Queens (Reinas) by Klaudia Reynicke, winner of the Prix du Public UBS at Locarno77, won the Best Feature Film at the Quartz Awards (Schweizer Filmpreis), the top honor for filmmaking in Switzerland. This major win affirms the film's continuing significance for audiences around the world - especially in Peru and in Switzerland, Reynicke's two home countries - and shows that Locarno continues to be the place where Swiss film flourishes.

And it didn't stop there! There were also prizes for some of the most essential Swiss world premieres seen last year in Locarno, whether Best Animated Film for our Pardino d'Oro winner Voiceless (Sans Voix) by Samuel Patthey, Best Sound & Best Screenplay for The Sparrow in the Chimney (Der Spatz im Kamin) by Ramon and Silvan Zürcher, Best Cinematography for Electric Child by Simon Jaquemet, Best Documentary for We, the Inheritors (Wir Erben) by Simon Baumann, Best Graduation Film for Mom Dances (Maman danse) by Mégane Brügger, or Best Actress for the wonderful Laetitia Dosch for her performance in Dog on Trial (Le procès du chien), our unforgettable closing night film, which Dosch also directed.

We were also delighted to see the Ehrenpreis this year be bestowed on two extraordinary and beloved figures from Locarno's history: Bulle Ogier and Barbet Schroeder. The legendary filmmaker Schroeder was most recently in Locarno in 2023 for Ricardo et la Peinture and to receive an Honorary Award from the Festival; while Ogier, one of the indisputable icons of French and Swiss cinema of the past six decades, was the recipient of our prestigious Pardo alla Carriera in 2015.

Congratulations to all the winners. It was truly a night to remember!