The 79th Locarno Film Festival opens in Locarno, Switzerland, on Wednesday, August 5, beginning an 11-day program that organizers say includes 233 works and 103 world premieres. The event, one of Europe's major showcases for independent and international cinema, runs through August 15 and combines public screenings in Piazza Grande with competitions, retrospectives and industry programs.
The opening day links new cinema with film history. The Orchestra della Svizzera italiana lists a live cine-concert at the Palexpo featuring Buster Keaton and Clyde Bruckman's 1926 silent comedy The General, marking the film's centenary. Philippe Béran conducts Carl Davis's 1987 score, while the screening features Keaton and Marion Mack.
According to ANSA and Sky TG24's account of the official selection, the full program contains 151 feature films, 81 shorts and one series. It includes 103 world premieres and eight international premieres, selected after 7,759 submissions, a reported increase of 21.75 percent from 2025. Seventeen films, all world premieres, will compete in the International Competition for the Golden Leopard.
The competition brings together filmmakers from Europe, Asia and the Americas, including Hong Sangsoo, Denis Côté, Salvatore Mereu, Gurvinder Singh and Nelson Yeo. Piazza Grande's public program includes 11 screenings, among them new films by Olivia Wilde, James Gray, Petra Volpe and Dario Albertini, extending the festival's usual balance between emerging voices and established directors.
The festival is also using its 2026 edition to revisit cinema history. Its program honors Darren Aronofsky, Isabella Rossellini, Asia Argento and special-effects artist Rick Baker, while a Hollywood Blacklist retrospective examines artists and films affected by political exclusion in the United States. Restored or repertory presentations include works associated with Martin Scorsese, David Lynch and Kevin Costner.
Locarno's opening places a substantial number of new films before audiences, critics, distributors and buyers at a key point in the international festival calendar. The competitions and screenings continue until August 15, when the juries are expected to announce the principal awards, including the Golden Leopard, and determine which discoveries leave the Swiss festival with greater international visibility.
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