Locarno Pro 2026 Industry Awards: 'Spring Story' and 'El Surubí' Lead the Winners
Locarno Pro, the industry arm of the Locarno Film Festival, handed out its 2026 industry awards on Sunday at the festival's 79th edition, which runs through 15 August in the Swiss lakeside town. The prizes carry no cash purse in the traditional sense — they are in-kind: post-production services, colour grading, poster design, studio time. For independent films still finding their way to a finished cut, that is hard currency.
Uruguay took the spotlight. The festival's First Look section — a works-in-progress showcase now in its 15th edition, running 7–9 August in partnership with the Uruguayan filmmakers' association ACAU — focused on Uruguayan cinema and served up the afternoon's biggest winners.
'Spring Story' takes two prizes
Historia de primavera (Spring Story), directed and produced by Gabriela Guillermo and Irina Raffo of L'Avventura Cine, with producer Germán Ormaechea of Animista Cine, won the Bright Side of the Moon First Look Award, which covers complete colour-grading services. The film also picked up the Le Film Français Award, worth EUR 5,600 in advertising space — a boost for a project heading into the market where visibility matters.
'El Surubí' collects three
Lorenzo Tocco's El Surubí (The Surubí), produced by Pancho Magnou Arnabal and Isabel García of Montelona with Brazilian co-producer Kocria, swept three awards: the La Mayor Cine Award for complete sound post-production; the Music Library & SFX/Acorde Award, covering music supervision services valued at EUR 45,000; and the Jannuzzi Smith Award for international poster design, worth EUR 10,000. A film can leave Locarno with its sound, music, and marketing ready to go — the kind of package that turns a rough cut into a festival-ready premiere.
Beyond First Look: 'Yazz' and the residencies
In the Alliance 4 Development co-development platform, which pairs producers across borders, the project Yazz by Florian Hoffmann won the Nebel Studios Award — estimated at CHF 30,500 (about $37,000) for three days of studio use and five days of camera equipment. Yazz is produced by Katrin Renz of Switzerland's tellfilm, Nicole Gerhards of Germany's NiKo Film, and Xénia Maingot of France's Eaux Vives Productions.
Three filmmakers — Julia Mellen, Anna Simonetti, and Dominic Yarabe — were named winners of the 2026 Locarno Residency, the festival confirmed on its Facebook page on 8 August.
Meanwhile, the festival's Match Me! strand, which profiles emerging producers from Europe and Latin America, spotlighted seven talents presenting projects ranging from a Brazilian survival drama to Nordic paranoia to European family cinema, according to Variety and Cineuropa.
For a festival better known for its Piazza Grande open-air screenings than its deal-making, Locarno Pro has quietly built one of the more practical industry programmes on the circuit. The awards do not crown a finished film — they help finish one.
