The Locarno Film Festival’s Locarno Pro industry strand on Sunday unveiled the winners of its industry
awards, including its First Look works-in-progress section focusing on projects on the verge of completion, the co-development program Alliance 4 Development, and the second Heritage Restoration Contest.
The winners were unveiled during the Locarno Pro Award Ceremony on Sunday. The promising feature film projects that competed for the First Look awards were from this year’s focus country, Spain.
The Locarno Pro industry strand of the Locarno festival this year included industry panels on AI and more, as well as a masterclass by Romanian auteur Radu Jude.
Check out the full list of winners below.
FIRST LOOK
First Look was held in partnership with ICAA, the Spanish Institute of Cinematography and Audiovisual Arts, and ICEX Spain Trade & Investment.
The jury that awarded the prizes was comprised of Beatrice Fiorentino, artistic director of Venice’s International Film Critics’ Week, Istanbul Film Festival director Kerem Ayan, and Mercedes Martínez-Abarca, programmer for the International Film Festival Rotterdam.
Antaviana Films First Look Award covering post-production services up to €50,000 ($54,076):
Dream of Another Summer
Director: Irene Bartolomé
Producer: Pere Marzo (Colibrí Studio), Irene Bartolomé (I.B. Films), Elie Kamal (The Attic Productions)
Description: Dream of Another Summer tells the story of “the encounter between a woman collapsing and a city in ruins … to explore how the spaces we inhabit relate to us, and to reflect on the mortality and survival of a city.”
Jury statement: “A poetic and rigorous project that elaborates on collective trauma by rewriting the topography of a city wounded many times by history. In its dual public and private dimensions, it restores the complexity of a territory marked by the past and the drive for modernity.”
Music Library &SFX/Acorde Award worth €45,000 ($48,669) in music supervision services:
Río abajo, un tigre
Director: Víctor Diago
Producer: Montse Pujol Solà (Boogaloo Films)
Description: Júlia fled to Glasgow to start anew, but years later, she’s stuck. By day, she pursues photography; by night, she washes dishes. One afternoon, while photographing pedestrians, her eyes begin to fail. As illness spreads, Júlia delves into her past and that of the city.
Award by post-production company Laserfilm cine y vídeo worth €5,000 ($5,407), which can be spent on the likes of subtitles, audio descriptions, and transcriptions:
Río abajo, un tigre
Jannuzzi Smith Award, consisting of the design of an international poster worth €10,000 ($10,815):
Mares
Director: Ariadna Seuba
Producer: Carles Brugeras, Marieke van der Bersselaar (Polar Star Films), María Nova López (Intactes Films)
Description: Mares takes the audience on an intimate and emotionally charged journey with director Ari (32), and her partner Anna (41), who want to have a child together. Anna is the first to begin assisted reproduction, whilst Ariadna captures every step with her camera.
Award by industry magazine Le Film Français worth €5,600 ($6,056) in advertising space:
Bodegón con fantasmas
Director: Enrique Buleo
Producer: Alejandra Mora (Quatre Films Audiovisuales SL), Alicia Yubero (Cuidado con el perro), Snezana van Houwelingen (This and that), Roberto Butragueño (Sideral)
Description: Distressed by the troubles and difficulties of life and death, ghosts and humans of the small town of La Mancha will do the impossible to put an end to their problems and will not hesitate to carry out extreme and desperate plans to achieve it.
ALLIANCE 4 DEVELOPMENT AWARDS
Alphapanda Market Breakout Award worth €3,500 ($3,818) in consultancy services:
Bourgeois Paranoia by Lukas Nathrath, produced by Linus Günther (Klinkerfilm Production, Germany)
Description: An episodic dark tragicomedy about five individuals grappling with rejection and the desire for revenge, whose lives collide over one fateful week. As insults pile up and everyday situations escalate, their stories intertwine in a pulsating café in Hamburg: a waiter, unable to say no, is humiliated until he strikes back; an aspiring author, hoping to meet her idol, is accused of theft; a roommate interview spirals out of control; rejected love turns into obsession; and an art performance culminates in bloody violence.
Alphapanda statement: “The Alphapanda Market Breakout Award 2024 goes to a promising vision that we cannot wait to cringe about. Humor, discomfort, obsession, revenge and bourgeois paranoia are stretched to the limits, and we’re in for the bloody ride.”
Script Consultancy Residency at DreamAgo offered by the Valais Film Commission in Switzerland:
6 Mois 6 jours (6 Months 6 Days) by Michale Boganim, produced by Mathilde Leite (Vilanova Productions, France), co-produced by Dorothe Beinemeier (Red Balloon Film, Germany)
Description: Juliana Kant is the wealthiest woman in Germany. When she encounters Raphaël, she succumbs to his charm, endangering her meticulously structured and protocol-driven existence. Raphaël, however, is not who he claims to be. He is determined to force the Kants to confront their past and face history.
Statement from Pascale Rey (DreamAgo) and Tristan Albrecht (Valais Film Commission): “This project is a strong story (validated by the criteria of DreamAgo) and a great potential on the production side (validated by the Valais Film Commission). Therefore we are very happy to offer the writer a script doctoring by Sir Christopher Hampton during [screenwriting workshop] Plume & Pellicule in June 2025.”
Midpoint Consulting Award for an in-depth online script consultancy with one of the Midpoint Institute experts.
La Fin de l’été (Atlantic Mirage) by Hakim Mao, produced by Emma Binet and Charles Meresse (Furyo Films, France)
Description: Late summer in Agadir. Younès and Ismaïl, inseparable since childhood, work at the Hôtel Atlantic Mirage while selling their charms to tourists. They save their money with the dream of leaving one day. But one morning, Ismaïl disappears, while the ocean is struck by strange phenomena. Younès sets out to unravel the mystery of what has happened to his friend.
Midpoint statement: “We are excited to support a compelling and gripping story that uniquely blends themes and genres, set against the mysterious backdrop of the cosmopolitan city of Agadir. Hakim Mao convinced us with his strong artistic vision, and we are eager to help him bring it to life.”
Ticino Film Commission Residence Award for a two-day location scout (worth CHF 4,000) and letter of intent for financial support for the production company (worth up to CHF 12,000), if all or part of the film is shot in Ticino, Switzerland.
Itaca (Ithaca) by Alessandro Grande, produced by Alessandro Amato and Luigi Chimienti (dispàrte, Italy)
Description: The film explores the themes of identity and origin through the character of Sebastiano, who was kidnapped as a baby and meets his biological parents as a grown man.
Jury statement: “The Ticino Film commission is proud to award its prize to the project Itaca, in which the landscapes play a fundamental role in expressing the violent rupture that its young protagonist experiences – being kidnapped from its southern homeland and moved to a northern, mountainous, region. We are confident that, with our support, the production will be able to find the perfect locations to recreate this touching real-life story and present it to a wider public.”
HERITAGE RESTORATION CONTEST whose winner will receive a full restoration progress by film lab Cinegrell and will be shown at the Locarno Film Festival 2025.
I Cannibali (The Cannibals, 1969) by Liliana Cavani
Description: The streets of a big city are full of dead bodies at the behest of the authorities. They are the bodies of citizens killed because they were considered rebels and are meant to serve as a warning. Antigone wants to bury her brother. A young foreigner offers his help. They are discovered and killed. But the example of the two is followed by other young people who take to the streets to continue to bury the corpses, defying the authorities.