Locarno Film Festival Adds Carlos Reygadas, Joslyn Barnes to Main Jury

The full juries for the 78th edition of the Locarno Film Festival have been unveiled, with Mexican director, writer, and producer Carlos Reygadas (Heli, The Untamed) and Nickel Boys co-writer and producer Joslyn Barnes among those joining jury head Cambodian filmmaker Rithy Panh on the team that will decide the winners of the honors in the main competition, the Concorso Internazionale.

Also unveiled as members of the main jury on Tuesday were Swiss actress Ursina Lardi (The White Ribbon, Veni Vidi Vici) and Dutch actress Renée Soutendijk (Sweet Dreams).

Meanwhile, the Concorso Cineasti del Presente, dedicated to emerging directors presenting their first or second features, will be judged by Indonesian actress Asmara Abigail (Stone Turtle, Impetigore), La Frances Hui, curator of film at MoMA and co-chair of the festival New Directors/New Films, and Indian actress Kani Kusruti (All We Imagine as Light). 

For the Pardi di Domani (Leopards of Tomorrow) short films section, the jury members are Jihan El Tahri, a Franco-Egyptian producer, director, and visual artist; Lemohang Mosese, a Lesotho-born filmmaker and visual artist; and Italian actress Sara Serraiocco (Sulla terra leggeri, Lord of the Ants).

The Swatch First Feature Award will be decided by James Hawkinson, an Emmy award-winning cinematographer of TV shows (The Man in the High Castle, Hannibal, Bel-Air, Gotham Knights), producer Judith Lou Lévy, “who has shepherded feature films by the likes of Mati Diop and Nadav Lapid,” and French director Patricia Mazuy (Saturn Bowling), the fest said,

Finally, the Pardo Verde jury, which honors films making a significant contribution to environmental awareness and action, is made up of U.S. independent director, writer, and producer Michael Almereyda, Italian director Martina Parenti, known for her documentaries made with co-director Massimo D’Anolfi, and Seta Thakur, head of communications and social innovation at the Wyss Academy for Nature. 

“We are grateful to all the artists that have accepted our invitation to serve on juries at the Locarno Film Festival and thus help introduce a selection of truly surprising and innovative films to the world,” said Giona A. Nazzaro, artistic director of the Locarno Film Festival. “We wanted to have juries that would share with us the pleasure of discovering filmmakers, both established and new; jurors whose gazes are both curious and generous. We wanted visionary artists that we know are still able of being moved by discoveries and surprises.”

The 2025 Locarno festival takes place Aug. 6-16.