79th Locarno Film Festival

To be eligible, a film must: 

• Be completed after August 31, 2025. 
• Have a World premiere status. 

*The festival rarely programs films with international premiere status, and in Montreal, only world premieres will be considered by the festival’s director.

*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 right after the session. It will then be evaluated by the committee in Europe between March and June 2026. 

Registration fees  

• Entry fees are waived for the Canadian features submitted for the selection screenings organized by Telefilm Canada.   

Complete the Telefilm application before February 3, 2026. 

• Insert your downloadable Vimeo link and password in the form.   

Screening format:   

• Only downloadable Vimeo links are accepted. The screener must be accessible until March 1^st, 2026. 

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. 

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. 

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 700 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. 

• 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 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 screen in open air on the Piazza Grande which can accommodate 8,000 viewers.  

• 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, 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.