Locarno Film Festival Award Winners 2025: ‘Two Seasons, Two Strangers’
Two Seasons, Two Strangers by Sho Miyake (All the Long Nights, Small, Slow But Steady) is the winner of the 78th edition of the Locarno Film Festival’s international competition, which was honored with the Pardo d’Oro, or Golden Leopard, in the Swiss town on Saturday.
The Japanese drama, based on the manga Mr. Ben and His Igloo, A View of the Seaside by Yoshiharu Tsuge, follows Lee, a scriptwriter who is processing what is happening in her life.
“We finally have Japan in the competition again,” Locarno artistic director Giona A. Nazzaro had told THR about the film marking Japan’s return to the competition lineup.
White Snail by Elsa Kremser and Levin Peter (Space Dogs), a romantic drama about a Belarusian model dreaming of a career in China who finds herself drawn to a mysterious loner who works the night shift at a morgue, won another top honor, receiving the special jury prize at Locarno.
Meanwhile, Abbas Fahdel was honored with the best director award for Tales of the Wounded Land.
The best performance awards in the competition went to Manuela Martelli and Ana Marija Veselčić for their roles in God Will Not Help by Hana Jušić, as well as to Marya Imbro and Mikhail Senkov for their work in White Snail.
And a special mention in the international competition lineup went to Dry Leaf by Alexandre Koberidze.
The international jury of Locarno78 was led by Cambodian auteur Rithy Panh and also included Mexican director, writer, and producer Carlos Reygadas (Heli, The Untamed), Nickel Boys co-writer and producer Joslyn Barnes, Swiss actress Ursina Lardi (The White Ribbon, I came, I saw, I conquered) and Dutch ACTRESS RENAGE SOUTYIJK (Sweet Dreams).
Two Seasons, Two Strangers is Locarno’s forth Japanese winner of the top prize after Masahiro Kobayashi’s The Revth (AI No Yotokan) in 2007, Akio Jissoji’s This Transient Life (Mujō), one of four films to share the prize in 1970, and Teinosuke Kinugasa’s Gate of Hell (Jigokumon) in 1954.
Among other Locarno 2025 honors, the Golden Leopard in the Concorso Cineasti del Presente program, which puts the spotlight on first and second features, was awarded to Hair, paper and gumsc… (Hair, Paper, Water…) By Nicolas Graux and Truong Minh Quy.
In the same section, Cecilia Kang won the best emerging director honor for Eldest sonwhile the best performance Leopards were given out to Aurora Quattrocchi for My joy (Sweetheart) by Margherita Spampinato, as well as Levan Gelbakhiani for his role in Don’t Let the Sun by Jacqueline Zünd.
This year’s debut feature honor, known as the Swatch First Feature Award, was bestowed upon Blue Heron by Sophy Romvari.
Nazzaro lauded “a successful edition beyond our wildest expectations that celebrates the enduring and gentle power of cinema and its manifolded ways of bringing communities together to share the wonderful gifts of peace.” He concluded: “A festival is like building a better tomorrow. One film at the time.”
The fest’s closing night will take place in the picturesque Swiss town’s Piazza Grande on Saturday, with Kiss of the Spider Woman by Bill Condon as the closing film.
Locarno 2025 featured honors for the likes of Jackie Chan, who received a huge ovation, Iranian star Golshifteh Farahani, who received her honor from Zar Amir, Emma Thompson, and costume designer Milena Canonero.
Here are the full winners of the 78th Locarno Film Festival.
International competition (International Competition)
Pardo d’Oro – Grand Prize of the Festival and City of Locarno
Tabi to Hibi (Two Seasons, Two Strangers) by Sho Miyake, Japan
Special Jury Prize – Cities of Ascona and Losone
White Snail by Elsa Kremser and Levin Peter, Austria/Germany
Pardo for Best Direction – City and Region of Locarno
Abbas Fahdel for Tales of the Wounded LandLebanon
Pardo for Best Performance
Manuel Martelli and Ana Marija Veselcic for God will not help (God Will Not Help) by Hana Jušić, Croatia/Italy/Romania/Greece/France/Slovenia
and
Marya Imbro and Mikhail Senkov for White Snail by Elsa Kremser and Levin Peter, Austria/Germany
Special Mention
Dry Leaf by Alexandre Koberidze, Germany/Georgia
Cineasti Competition of this (for first and second features)
Golden Pardo – Cineasti Competition of this
Hair, paper and gumsc… (Hair, Paper, Water…) By Nicolas Graux and Truong Minh
Quarter, Belgium/France/Vietnam
Best Emerging Director Award – City and Region of Locarno
Cecilia Kang for Eldest sonArgentina/France
SPECIAL JURY PRIZE CINE+
My joy (Sweetheart) by Margherita Spampinato
Pardo for Best Performance
Aurora Quattrocchi for My joy (Sweetheart) by Margherita Spampinato,
Italy
and
Levan Gelbakhiani for Don’t Let the Sun by Jacqueline Zünd, Switzerland/Italy
Pardi of tomorrow (showcasing short and medium-length films focused on experimentation and innovative forms)
Corti d’Autore competition
PARTINO THE ORO WERENDENT BY WETRANSFER FOR THE BEST Author Short movie
A Very Straight Neck by Neo Sora, Japan/China
Pardino d’Oro Arts3 Foundation for the Best International Short Film
Hyena by Alttay Ulan YA, USA
Pardino d’Argento Arts3 Foundation for the International Competition
Still Playing by Mohamed Mesbah, France
Pardi di Domani Best Direction Award – Bonalumi Engineering
First teaching (Primary Education) by Aria Sánchez and Marina Meira, Cuba/Spain/Brazil
Media Patent Administration AG Award
Force Times Displacement by Angel Wu, Taiwan
National competition
Pardino d’Oro SRG SSR for the Best Swiss Short Film
Rio de Janeiro is still beautiful (Rio Remains Beautiful) by Felipe Casanova, Belgium/Brazil/Switzerland
Pardino d’Argento SRG SSR for the National Competition
Thousand tones by Francesco Poloni, Switzerland
Best Swiss Newcomer Award
The outpost 21 by Camille Surdez, Switzerland
Locarno Film Festival Short Film Candidate – European Film Awards
Rio de Janeiro is still beautiful (Rio Remains Beautiful) by Felipe Casanova, Belgium/Brazil/Switzerland
First Feature
Swatch First Feature Award
Blue Heron by Sophy Romvari, Canada/Hungary
Green brown (the Green Leopard for films from directors with a vision “linked to a new conception of humanity on planet Earth”) supported by the Ente Regionale per lo Sviluppo del Locarnese e Vallemaggia
Green brown
Mare’s Nest by Ben Rivers, United Kingdom/France/Canada
Special Mentions
Hair, paper and water … (Hair, Paper, Water …) By Nicolas Graux and Truong Minh
Quarter, Belgium/France/Vietnam
and
A south -facing window (A South Facing Window) by Lkhagvadulam PurevOchir, France/Mongolia
INDEPENDENT JURIES AND AWARDS
Ecumenical Prize
Solammma By Janicke Askevold, Norway/Latvia/Lithuania/Denmark/Finland
Special Mention
The lake by Fabrice Aragno, Switzerland
FIPRESCI Prize
With Hasan in Gaza by Kamal Aljafari, Palestine/Germany/France/Qatar
Junior Jury Awards
First Prize
The lake by Fabrice Aragno, Switzerland
Second Prize
Dracula would advice Jude, Romania/Austria/Luxembourg/Brazil
Third Prize
Mektoub, My Love: Canto Due by Abdellatif Kechiche, France
“The environment is quality of life” Prize
offered by the Ticino Department of Internal Affairs:
Tabi to Hibi (Two Seasons, Two Strangers) by Sho Miyake, Japan
Special Mention
The girls (Mosquitoes) By Valentina Farming and Nicole Farming, Italy
The second Junior Jury assigned a prize to the best film shown in the section Concorso Cineasti del Presente:
A balcony has Limoges (A Balcony in Limoges) BY Jécôme Reynted, FRAnce
Special Mentions
Blue Heron by Sophy Romvari, Canada/Hungary
and
Folk (Follies) by Eric K. Boulianne, Canada
Pardi of tomorrow
International competition
Blind, in the eye (Blind, Into the Eye) by Atefeh Kheirabadi and Mehrad
Sepahnia, Germany/Iran
National competition
Black mornings (Black Mornings) by David Gonseth, Switzerland
Corti d’Autore competition
A south -facing window (A South Facing Window) by Lkhagvadulam PurevOchir, France/Mongolia
Special Mention – For the International Competition
Once in a body (Once in a Body) by María Cristina Pérez González, Colombia/USA
Open Doors Screenings
“The environment is quality of life” Prize
God’s envoy by Amina Abdoulaye Mamani, Niger / Burkina Faso / Rwanda
Critics’ Week (Critics/Week)
Grand Prix Week of Critics – SRG SSR Prize
Celtic utide (Celtic Utopia) by Dennis Harvey and Lars Lovén,
Sweden/Ireland
Marco Zucchi Award
In the criminal colony (In the Penal Colony) by Gaetano Crivaro, Silvia Perra, Ferruccio Goia, and Alberto Diana, Italy
