72nd Locarno Film Festival

The 72nd annual Locarno Festival was held from 7 August to 17 August 2019. The debut feature by Italian director-producer Ginevra Elkann's Magari opened the festival, and Kiyoshi Kurosawa's To the Ends of the Earth was screened as closing film.

International Competition

 * Catherine Breillat, French filmmaker, novelist and professor - Jury President
 * Ilse Hughan, Dutch producer
 * Emiliano Morreale, Italian film critic
 * Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, Argentinian actor
 * Angela Schanelec, German filmmaker

Filmmakers of the Present

 * Jake Perlin, American producer - Jury President
 * Shengze Zhu, Chinese filmmaker and producer
 * Yolande Zauberman, French filmmaker

Leopards of Tomorrow

 * Bi Gan, Chinese filmmaker - Jury President
 * Alice Diop, French filmmaker
 * Mike Plante, American short films programmer at Sundance Film Festival

Moving Ahead

 * Michael Boyce Gillespie, American film theorist and historian - Jury President
 * Aline Schmid, Swiss producer
 * Eduardo Williams, Argentinian filmmaker

Best First Feature Prizes

 * Margherita Chiti, Italian distributor - Jury President
 * Frédéric Jaeger, German artistic director of Berlin Critics’ Week
 * Jacqueline Lyanga, American festival director

Official Awards
The following awards were presented for films shown In Competition:

International Competition

 * Golden Leopard: Vitalina Varela by Pedro Costa
 * Special Jury Prize: Height of the Wave by Park Jung-bum
 * Best Direction Award: Damien Manivel for Isadora's Children
 * Best Actor Award: Regis Myrupu for The Fever
 * Best Actress Award: Vitalina Varela for Vitalina Varela
 * Special Mentions:
 * The Science of Fictions by Yosep Anggi Noen
 * Maternal by Maura Delpero
 * Swatch First Feature Awards: Nafi’s Father by Mamadou Dia

Filmmakers of the Present

 * Golden Leopard - Filmmakers of the Present: Nafi's Father by Mamadou Dia
 * Best Emerging Director: Hassen Ferhani for 143 sahara street
 * Special Jury Prize: Ivana the Terrible by Ivana Mladenović
 * Special Mention: Here for Life by Andrea Luka Zimmerman and Adrian Jackson

Moving Ahead

 * Moving Ahead Award: The Giverny Document (Single Channel) by Ja'Tovia M. Gary
 * Special Mentions:
 * Those That, at a Distance, Resemble Another by Jessica Sarah Rinland
 * Osmosis by Zhou Tao

Leopards of Tomorrow

 * Pardino d'oro for the Best International Short Film – SRG SSR Prize: Black Sun by Arda Çiltepe
 * Pardino d'oro for the Best Swiss Short Film – Swiss Life Prize: Mama Rosa by Dejan Barac
 * Pardino d'argento SSR SRG for the international competition: Umbilical by Danski Tang
 * Pardino d'argento Swiss Life for the national competition: Silent Storm by Anaïs Moog
 * Pardi di domani Best Direction Prize: Anton Sazonov for Leave of Absence