Mexican director and producer Carlos Reygadas, U.S. producer Josyln Barnes and actresses Ursina Lardi and Renée Soutendijk have been announced for the main jury of the 78th Locarno Film Festival in August.
They join award-winning documentarian Rithy Panh who was previously announced in May as the jury president.
Reygadas, who won best director in Cannes for Post Tenebras Lux in 2012, has connections with Locarno as producer of Eami, which was supported by its Open Doors program, as well as Sermon To The Fish, which played in the International Competition in 2022.
Barnes, who is a regular Locarno visitor, recently achieved acclaim with Nickel Boys, which was produced under the banner of Louverture Films, the New York-based independent production company she co-founded with actor Danny Glover.
Dutch star Renée Soutendijk, whose career spans both stage and screen, won Locarno’s Pardo for Best Actress in 2023 for her performance in Ena Sendijarević’s Sweet Dreams. Swiss actress Ursina Lardi’s credits include Michael Haneke’s White Ribbon as well as the recent relationship comedy The Neighbours From Upstairs.
Locarno also unveiled the juries for the Filmmakers of the Present and Leopards of Tomorrow competitions.
The Filmmakers of the Present, dedicated to emerging directors presenting their first or second feature, will be judged by Asmara Abigail, the Indonesian actress best known to audiences in Locarno for her performance in Ming Jin Woo’s Fipresci-winning premiere Stone Turtle (2022); La Frances Hui, Curator of Film at MoMA and Co-chair of the festival New Directors/New Films, and Indian actress Kani Kusruti, seen recently in Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light.
The jury for the short film-focused Leopards of Tomorrow competition features Franco-Egyptian film producer Jihan El Tahri; Lesotho-born filmmaker and visual artist Lemohang Mosese, and Italian actress Sara Serraiocco, who credits include in the lead role in Weightless, which premiered in the main competition in Locarno last year.
The 78th edition of the Locarno Film Festival runs from August 6 to 16.
