The Locarno Film Festival in southern Switzerland will screen 233 films, including 103 world premieres, from 5 to 15 August.
The event will also honour Belgian actress Virginie Efira with a Leopard Club Award. She will present Sudain (2026) by Japanese director Ryusuke Hamaguchi, a role that earned her the best actress prize at Cannes in May.
Italian actress and #MeToo figure Asia Argento will also be recognised for her career.
Organisers said the 79th edition would explore “the complexities of the present” without sacrificing entertainment. The programme brings together films from 69 production and co-production countries, including 11 feature films competing for best first feature.
On the Piazza Grande, the festival will open with Les Yeux verts (2026) by French directing duo Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh, a family drama that moves between reality and a dreamlike world.
Audiences will also see Frank & Louis by Petra Volpe, the Italo-Swiss director’s first English-language film, which tells the story of a friendship between two prisoners.
Several films in the line-up are inspired by real people. They include Down the Arm of God by Austrian director Peter Brunner, about a young Texas pastor helping homeless people.
Another is a historical thriller by German director Felix Randau, centred on the former masseur of SS leader Heinrich Himmler.
Festivalgoers will be able to revisit Kevin Costner’s Dances with Wolves (1990) in an ultra-high-resolution restored version by Zurich laboratory Cinegrell.
The programme also includes restored black-and-white Hollywood classics.
