Isabella Rossellini is making more short films about animals. Speaking at the 79th Locarno Film Festival on 6 August 2026, she announced a new series titled The Survival of the Friendliest, focused on the history of pets. As with her earlier animal projects, Rossellini will play every role herself (The Hollywood Reporter).

The project extends a body of work that began in 2008 with Green Porno, a series of short films about animal reproduction that launched on the Sundance Channel. She followed it with Seduce Me in 2010 and Mammas, about animal motherhood, in 2013. All three shared a distinctive format: Rossellini dressing up in handmade costumes to act out the mating, seduction and parenting strategies of insects, fish and mammals.

Rossellini credited Robert Redford with opening that door. She said Redford encouraged her to make Green Porno for the Sundance Channel, and that she owes him the opportunity to become a director (The Hollywood Reporter).

Locarno's invitation carried its own significance. The festival, running 5–15 August 2026 in the Swiss lakeside town, awarded Rossellini its Excellence Award Davide Campari on opening night, 5 August, in the open-air Piazza Grande venue. The award goes annually to artistic figures whose work has shaped contemporary cinema (Locarno Film Festival). The festival programme also includes a "Conversation with Isabella Rossellini" event, where she discussed her career across film and television.

Her path to directing was not straightforward. Rossellini's first major film role was as Eugenia in The Meadow, directed by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani. The performance drew harshly bad reviews. She said she quit acting for five years afterward and focused on modelling (The Hollywood Reporter).

When she returned to acting, her guiding principle was simple: the most important factor in choosing a role is the director. That instinct led her to collaborations with David Lynch, Robert Zemeckis, Guy Maddin and James Gray, all of which she discussed at Locarno.

Rossellini recalled that Lynch's Blue Velvet was controversial on release and noted that there was a great deal of voice editing on her singing in the film. Her more recent work has leaned into animation: she voiced Nana Connie, the grandmother of the title character, in Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (The Hollywood Reporter).

Rossellini is the daughter of Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman and Italian director Roberto Rossellini. Across her career she has moved between prestige dramas, offbeat comedy, modelling and now a uniquely personal brand of nature filmmaking — one she writes, directs and performs entirely on her own.