Who will win the Leopard at Locarno? [2025 edition]

Partly a joke poll, but I do like the yearly Cannes conversations, and the lineup of Locarno (and Venice a bit later) is very good this year. Radu Jude with a vampire film about Transylvania. Alexandre Koberidzes followup to 'What do we see when we look at the sky?' which was one of the best arthouse films I've seen this decade. I saw a Sho Miyake at Berlin last year, and he could be the next Ryusuke Hamaguchi. And others seem interesting too.

Oh, and Abdellatif Kechiche is there with the third part of his ten hour ode to butts, which has completely destroyed his career. That could be fun too.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I only got wholly onto the Radu Jude bandwagon in the last couple of years so it's delightful to learn that there are about a dozen '24/'25 productions for me to anticipate lol. (Well... several anyway.)

Not dissimilarly, I only saw What Do We See... a matter of weeks ago. Interest definitely piqued. Cheers.

This film festival seems to go under the radar. I would love to attend it some day. I haven't read any of the reviews from it.

I loved Alexandre Koberidze's What Do We See When We Look at the Sky? and Radu Jude's Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World

I'm also curious about Abdellatif Kechiche

I probably should be more conscious of Locarno activity. eg. it turns out I casually watched last year's Golden Leopard winner (Toxic) AND Special Jury Prize winner (Moon) in the past month or so without this fact fully registering. (Thanks Mubi.) The former, especially, proved quite memorable.

I'm really looking forward to seeing those two on MUBI soon. There's also yet another Radu Jude showing right now: 'Eight Postcards From Utopia'.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

8 votes, kinda more than I thought, and the right winner :)

There's a bunch of reviews here, for anyone who is interested: https://icsfilm.org/category/festivals/locarno/2025-locarno/ It sounds like a pretty good year overall.

And the Leopard goes to... Sho Miyake for 'Two Seasons, Two Strangers'. As mentioned, I saw his last film 'All the Long Nights' at the Berlin festival in the Forum section and was quite impressed. He is definitely moving up into the big leagues, and coming to a cinema near you in a couple of years. Hamaguchi/early Kore-eda, but more minimalistic.

Koberidze wins a Special Mention, and in the sidebar, the Leopard in 'Filmmakers of the present' goes to 'Hair, Paper, Water'. by Nicolas Graux and Minh Quý Trương. Minh Quý Trươngs second film 'Viet and Nam' was at Cannes last year, and is one of the most interesting and fresh art films I've seen this decade, I honestly think he will be a major voice in world cinema in a couple of films.

Viet and Nam is on Mubi! I will watch it. Thanks for the recommendation Frederick

(sorry.. Frederik)

Aaaah, interesting. I saw All the Long Nights and an earlier film after the Sho Miyake mention up top, and they're lingering in my memory as pleasantly bittersweet but warm things.

Oh cool, would love to know what you think about Viet and Nam, Dan. It does things with space, borders, thresholds, that I'm not sure I've really seen before in exactly the same way, and it really painted a picture of Vietnam as both isolated and globalized at the same time.

Turns out V&N is presently on SBS, for any passing AU readers of this quiet thread. I'd be kerrazy to fail to look into that too, in that case. Cheers.

https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/movie/viet-and-nam/2417523779730

Phantoms of July by Julian Radlmaier

Couldn't figure out where I'd heard of this when it came up on MUBI (seems to be available in lots of territories right now) but I guess whatever I read about it stemmed ultimately from this thread. Anyway, I think I should see more Radlmaier. Not sure this one comes together 100% successfully and can easily imagine accusations of tweeness, but there are so many aspects I liked about it.

Not a million miles from the afore-mentioned Dry Leaf, vibe-wise, come to think of it. That kooky thing is seemingly going to gently haunt me for some time.

Ha! I had no idea they were acquainted. Mubi also has Radlmaier's Bloodsuckers "starring one of our favorite new filmmakers, Alexandre Koberidze..."

I've much to learn lol.

I want to watch more Radlmaier other than 'Blodsuckers'. How can you not love a film called 'Self-Criticism of a Bourgeois Dog'?

I should make the 2026 poll soon. It's nice to have a thread like this to discuss Locarno films. 'Dry Leaf' is one of the best films I've seen in years. I ended up seeing it again a couple of days later, it's even more hilarious when you know what won't happen.

I should definitely see it again. Even at the level of raw sensory processing I feel like my visual cortex would like to be exercised (annoyed?) anew.

I for one would be interested in a 2026 thread. My posts on this thread are hardly well-informed but I am definitely drawn to the sort of things that have come up.

How can you not love a film called 'Self-Criticism of a Bourgeois Dog'?

Got around to this one on the weekend. Possibly elicited the most chortling of any film I've seen via Mubi!

Sounds fun! I'll try and watch it next weekend.

I'm seeing Dracula tonight at a small cinema. Not entirely sure I can handle it...