Success Stories from Locarno Pro

Locarno's Industry platform serves as an incubator for emerging professionals and talents and as launchpad for the selected alumni who have been able to achieve great career paths.


Discover here a selection of completed projects that have achieved important accomplishments.


Alliance 4 Development: Future-proof market potential and networking for early stage projects

A co-development program for film projects from Austria, Germany, France, Italy and Switzerland. Our aim is to support emerging filmmakers bring their projects to life and help foster long-term creative and business ties between the countries.

The completed projects have collected several success stories, among which:

  • The Village next to Paradise by Mo Harawe participated in Alliance 4 Development in 2023. The film was presented at Cannes 2024 - Un Certain Regard.
  • Music by Angela Schanelec and L’Amour du Monde by Jenna Hasse - Berlinale 2023
  • Chicken for Linda by Chiara Malta and Sébastien Laudenbach - Cannes ACID, Annecy FF and Piazza Grande Pre-festival Screening 2023
  • Continental Drift by Lionel Baier - Quinzaine des Réalisateurs, Cannes 2022)
  • Semret by Caterina Mona - World Premiere in Piazza Grande at Locarno75 in 2022
  • Dopo la guerra (Après la guerre) by Annarita Zambrano - Un Certain Regard, Cannes 2017
  • L’ospite by Duccio Chiarini - world premiere at Locarno's Piazza Grande in 2017

First Look: Locarno's work-in-progress section

Our work in progress section, showcasing films in any post-production stage from a different territory, every year. Now in it’s 13th edition, it has been a critical launchpad for new productions from Colombia, Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Israel, Poland, Baltic Countries, Portugal, Serbia, Switzerland, Germany and the UK.

Several films selected at First Look have become international successes, such as:

  • Mother Vera directed by Cécile Embleton and Alys (First Look UK 2023) was presented at Vision du Réel 2024 and won the Grierson Award at the BFI London Film Festival.
  • Still life with Ghosts by Enrique Buleo (First Look Spain 2024) premiered at Warsaw Film Festival in October 2024.
  • The Second  Mother  by  Anna Muylaert (Brazil, 2014) - Sundance Film Festival (best actress award) and Berlinale Panorama 2015
  • Sand Storm  by Elite Zexer (Israel, 2015) - selected at Sundance Film Festival (World Cinema Grand Jury Prize) and Berlinale Panorama 2016
  • To Kill a Man  by Alejandro Fernandez Almendras (Chile, 2013) - Sundance Film Festival 2014 (Winner - World Documentary Award)
  • Semret by Caterina Mona (Switzerland, 2021) - Premiere at Locarno Piazza Grande 2022
  • De Noche Los Gatos son Pardos (Switzerland, 2021) - Premiere at Locarno International Competition 2022
  • Letzter Abend (One Last Evening) by Lukas Nathrath (Germany 2023) - IFF Rotterdam, Tiger Competition 2023
  • Life Is Not a Competition, But I’m Winning by Julia Fuhr Mann (Germany 2023) - VeniceFF - Settimana Internazionale della Critica 2023.

Heritage Online: Offering a new commercial life to lost cinema classics

Freshly restored classic films, market ready again. Through our Heritage Online program, we are playing an active role in restoring older films to their former glory so that they can benefit from a second commercial life.

Not only do we engage directly in the restoration of films but also provide a platform for the discovery of heritage titles to become a commercial facilitator between rights holders, film distributors and streaming platforms:

  • The Killing Floor by Bill Duke (1984) – Acquired by Film Movement for NorthAmerica
  • Our Private Lives by Denis Côté (2007) – Acquired by MUBI in a full retrospective on the director and re-released in theatres in Canada
  • The Basilisks by Lina Wertmüller (1963)  – Acquired by MUBI

Industry Academy: A professional career jumpstarter.

An intensive workshop dedicated to young professionals working in international sales, marketing, traditional and online distribution, exhibition and film programming.

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I remain in close contact with many of the participants. A fun fact: one of the speakers at the Locarno Industry Academy 2015 – Jon Barrenechea, who at the time was working for UK independent cinema chain Picturehouse Cinemas – is now my colleague at MUBI and I work closely with him on a daily basis

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There was literally a before and an after. Everything changed in my perception of the job after the Locarno Academy, in terms of my capabilities, goals and possibilities. Sometimes I mention it in professional conversations, when I think it might be useful, and it always works. I’m now recognized by the whole industry: it’s that little plus that makes me a bit more special – it's priceless

 

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“Having had the opportunity to participate in the Locarno Academy was an unforgettable experience: it reconnected the professional sphere with the personal desire to work in this field of cinema. I got to know ways of working in the film exhibition and distribution circuit from all over the Americas, different contexts and particular ways of facing a world in crisis.”
 


Match Me!: An informal networking platform for upcoming producers

A networking platform that has helped more than 200 upcoming producers expanding their international network. Through a taylor-made programme of one-to-one meetings, professional lunches and workshops, the selected producers deep dive into the full potential of international (co)production.

Some of the previous Match Me! selected producers, to name just a few:

  • Thomas Hakim (Match Me! 2022), producer of All We Imagine as Light by Payal Kapadia was selected in Competition at Cannes 2024 and winner of The Grand Prix.
  • Producer Catarina de Sousa (Match Me! 2023) presented My Senses Are All I Have to Offer by Isidora Neves Marquest at Semaine de la Critique – Cannes 2024.
  • Producer and Director Paulo Carneiro (Match Me! 2023 alumnus) was selected at la Quinzaine des cinéastes 2024 with his film Savanna and the Mountain.
  • Tan Si En (Momo Film Co, Singapore), selected at the Berlinale Talents 2020 AND Dreaming and Dying by Nelson Yeo - Cineasti del Presente and Best First Feature Awards at Locarno 2023.
  • Giovanni Pompili (Kino Produzioni, Italy)- Sole, by Carlo Sironi premiered in Venice, Toronto and Berlin, and won the European Discovery prize at the 2020 EFA ceremony; he co-produced Alcarràs by Carla Simón who won the Golden Bear at the Berlinale 2022; the same yeat he premiered Delta by Michele Vannucci in Piazza Grande at Locarno 2022 and The Beautiful Summer by Laura Luchetti - Piazza Grande at the Locarno FF 2023;
  • Tatiana Leite (Bubbles Project, Brazil), won the Golden Leopard in Locarno 2022with Regra 34 by Julia Murat and together with Kino Produzioni, she co-produced Puán by Maria Alché e Benjamin Nashtat, which premiered at San Sebastian 2023 scooping best actor and best script.
  • Pedro Duarte (Primeira Idade, Portugal) - The Metamorphosis of Birds  by Catarina Vasconcelos, won over 15 international awards, including the Berlinale Fipresci Award 2020. 
  • Aline Mazzarella (Estúdio Giz, Brazil) - Sick, Sick, Sick by Alice Furtado premiered at the Quinzaine in Cannes FF, 2019; co-produced El Auge del Humano 3 by Teddy Williams which premiered in Locarno's International Competition 2023.
  • Alessandro Amato (dispàrte, Italy) Hogar  (Maternal) - Locarno72's Concorso Internazionale and  Berlinale Talent alumni 2020. 

Completed films and festival selections (2023)


StepIn: Locarno's exclusive international think tank

An invitation only forum allowing key industry players to engage in working sessions to discuss the state of the film industry and exchange their point of view. It’s a space for sharing ideas, getting inspired by one another and, fundamentally, looking to the future.

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No other festival has succeeded so well in creating a unique discussion forum as Locarno with StepIn.”

Key guests who have hosted sessions include:

  • Elissa Federoff, President of Theatrical Distributional at NEON
  • Eugene Hernandez, Director of Sundance Film Festival
  •  Alberto Barbera, Director of Venice Film Festival
  • Sejin Croninger, Executive Vice President of worldwide acquisitions at Paramount Pictures
  • Bobby Allen, Vice President of Theatrical Distribution at Mubi

And also film producers such as Gale Anne Hurd, Michel Merkt, Rodrigo Teixeira, Christine Vachon, Ted Hope, Diana Elbaum, Rita Dagher, Jonas Dornbach and Jean des Forêts and talent agents such as Maren Olson (former CAA Media Finance Department), Mikey Schwartz-Wright (UTA), Sarah Schweitzman and Allison Hironaka (CAA Finance & Sales Group) and a large number of international distributors, exhibitors and sales agents (besides the above mentioned Focus, Netflix, MUBI, NEON and A24 just to name a few more: TrustNordisk, Charades, Protagonist, Memento, Dogwoof, Studiocanal, I Wonder, BAC Films, Teodora, SF Studios, Vision Distribution, Weltkino, Picturehouse, and many others...


Partners