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78th Locarno International Film Festival | Canadian Preselection Screenings 

Locarno, Switzerland, February 24 to 27, 2025

CALL FOR ENTRIES 

(Feature-length films, narratives only)  

Telefilm Canada is currently accepting entries of Canadian feature films on behalf of the Locarno International Film Festival (August 6 – 16, 2025).  

In 2025, CANADA will be the Country of Honour at the 78th Locarno International Film Festival as well as in its Industry Programming. Special attention will be paid to Canadian films.  

TELEFILM CANADA will be holding private screenings of Canadian films submitted to Locarno Festival Artistic Director, Giona Nazzaro, at a cinema in Montreal, from February 24 to 27, 2025.  

DETAILS 

  • Competitive: Yes 
  • Medium-length (60 minutes or less) and short films (41 minutes or less) need to be submitted directly to the festival.   
  • Submission Fees: Films submitted via Telefilm Canada to the preselection screenings will be exempt from the 100- 200EUR festival submission fees. 

* Due to the increased number of entries, the high volume, and time constraints, we cannot guarantee that all submitted films will be screened while the programmer is in Montreal. The programmer will evaluate the maximum that can be screened in 4 days and select which titles to prioritize. If your film is not evaluated and screened in Montreal, you will be notified by us after the session. It will then be evaluated by the committee in Europe between March and June. 

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA 

To be eligible, a film must: 

  • Be completed after August 31, 2024. 
  • Be 61 minutes or more. 
  • Have a World premiere status. 
  • Films available on the Internet, broadcast on television or commercially released on VOD, DVD, Blu-Ray, or any other format are not eligible. 

CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT

*Please note that the submission link is also the link to submit to the Festival de Cannes Preselections. You may submit to both at the same time.

*If you have already submitted to the Festival de Cannes, we will be reaching out separately regarding submitting your application to the Locarno Film Festival.

HOW TO SUBMIT 

SUBMISSION FORMATS 

Technical specifications to follow:  

  • Only downloadable Vimeo links are accepted. The screener must be accessible until February 27, 2025. 
  • All titles should be in MP4 format, at a bit rate of 15 000Kb/s  
  • 1920 x 1080 @23.976 or 24 Frames Per Second  
  • Colour Space should be Rec 709  
  • We accept audio in either 2.0 channels, or 5.1 channels 

N.B.  Your image editing must be final. However, your film can still be in postproduction, and this is not an issue at all. The programmers are used to viewing works at the post-production stage (with no color timing, no sound mix, no final music, missing effects, etc.) and, as such, know how to “fill in the technical gaps. 

SELECTION PROCESS 

The festival Director will consider, screen, and evaluate the entries.  

Once the screenings are over, we will email all applicants and inform you if your film is preselected (“shortlisted”) or rejected by the Director. Shortlisted films will then move to phase 2 and be screened by the rest of the committee during the following months. Final decisions will be communicated directly to you by the festival by mid-June. 

ABOUT 

THE LOCARNO FILM FESTIVAL is renowned for its varied program focused on the discovery, new trends and passion for auteur cinema. Recognized as one of the major showcases in Europe and a convivial networking event for distributors, buyers, producers, filmmakers, and journalists, it attracts 152,000 viewers, 1,800 professionals and over 750 journalists. 

Among the festival’s 11 sections, Canadian films will be evaluated for these international categories: 

  • International Competition 
    • Narrative feature-length films, which are world premieres. 
    • The Competition awards several cash prizes: 
      • Golden Leopard – Festival Grand Prize: 75,000 Swiss Francs to the Best Film, shared between the director and the producer. 
      • Special Jury Prize: CHF 30,000 to be shared between the director and the producer. 
      • Leopard Best Direction: 20,000 Swiss Francs given to the director. 
      • Pardo for Best Performance: Two prizes to be awarded 
  • Filmmakers of the Present Competition 
    • World premieres of first and second features produced for theatrical release. 
    • Available Prizes and Awards: 
      • Golden Leopard – Cineasti del Presente Award: 35,000 Swiss Francs to be shared equally between the director and the producer. 
      • First Feature Award: 20,000 Swiss Francs to the director. 
  • Piazza Grande  
    • The Piazza Grande section is reserved to films which, while being spectacular and entertaining, have an innovative capacity in style and content. Films are presented on a giant, open air screen on the Piazza Grande which can accommodate 8,000 viewers.  
    • Available Prizes and Awards: 
      • Audience Award UBS: CHF 30,000 to the film that receives the most audience votes, shared equally between the director, the producer, and the Swiss distributor (if any). 
  • * THE SEMAINE DE LA CRITIQUE 
    • The Semaine de la Critique reserved for documentaries, is organized by the Swiss Film Journalists Association.  
    • For submissions and more information: www.semainedelacritique.ch 
  • * PARDO DI DOMANI 
    • This section is competitive.  
    • Medium length (59 min and under) and short films must be submitted directly to the festival. 

MORE INFORMATION  

Regarding the festival and the preselection screenings:  

For assistance in the submission process and delivery of your screening link:  

Promotion and Communications  
Telefilm Canada, Montréal  
DL-festivals@telefilm.ca    
1 800 567-0890