Social Sustainability

We aim to create a welcoming, accessible, and representative Festival for audiences and industry: a place where every voice can be heard and valued.

Inclusion 2025

Real-time translation Italian, German, French and English for talks & press events.

Audio description in French and German for selected films.
Sensory-friendly relaxed screenings.
Award Ceremony in Italian Sign Language (LIS).
Public panel on intersectional representation.
Ongoing audits with ORME & Access Group.

Locarno Edu

Ensuring the Festival’s cultural legacy passes on to new generations is one of our core duties.

What we do

Image literacy: courses that foster critical media awareness and spark creativity.
Locarno Kids la Mobiliare: playful workshops, first big-screen experiences and talks with filmmakers.
Cinema Day: a free marathon that brings children at schools to theatres.
Atelier du Futur: a summer journey through art, sustainability and creative skills (in partnership with la Mobiliare).
Spring Academy (with CISA): an intensive one-week film lab ending with a short screened at the Festival.

For more information please visit the Diversity & Inclusion page

Learn more

Impact

Almost 9’000 young participants involved
Over 30 workshops, 60+ screenings.
Content in translation Italian, German, French, and English and in Italian Sign Language (LIS).

Environmental Sustainability

We address the climate crisis transparently, tracking our footprint and targeting net-zero by 2050. We are firmly committed to recognizing the importance of mitigating our negative impacts on the environment and promoting environmental sustainability. We have taken significant steps in order to calculate our greenhouse gas emissions (direct and indirect) to understand the full environmental impact of our activities.

What we do

Renewable energy usage
Screenings in the Piazza Grande, Europe's largest open-air cinema, and all other venues are powered by 100% renewable energy thanks to our partnership with SES.
Sustainable mobility
We encourage employees, guests, and the public to choose environmentally friendly means of transport. We have established strategic partnerships with SBB/CFF/FFS, Autopostale, Publibike and more. 
Sustainable catering
We have significantly decreased the availability of meat-based food options in favour of plant-based offerings. Additionally, we prioritise products from local, organic producers to reduce the carbon footprint associated with transport. Through our partnership with Sodastream, we have eliminated 100 percent of plastic bottles in all of our official lounges.
Eco-Friendly materials
We are committed to producing sustainable merchandise made from recycled or sustainable materials. Our official bags are made from organic cotton and our iconic lanyards are made from R-Pet.
Digital transformation
We have launched an enhanced mobile version of our website to ensure a seamless digital experience and reduced the print run of our publications.
Waste reduction
We provide waste separation bins at all official Festival venues, donate leftover materials to the Fondazione Diamante who make handmade products, and collaborate with Too Good To Go to ensure that leftovers from all official events are made available to the public.

10 636 t CO₂eq ⇒ 72 kg/visitor

(data from 2023)

Economic Sustainability

The Locarno Film Festival is an economic engine for Locarno and the Ticino region: it not only attracts tourism but also boosts local expertise and creates tangible professional opportunities.

What we do

Partnership with Ascona-Locarno Tourism, Ticino Turismo, and Switzerland Tourism for integrated promotion.
84 % of suppliers are Ticino-based; workforce predominantly local.
300+ jobs & internships for youth (USI, SUPSI, CISA).
Dialogue platform for culture, politics, and industry (local & federal authorities).
Cultural links with LAC, OSI, Castellinaria, Palacinema SA, MASI, and other cultural entities active in the region.

Locarno Factory – creative hub

The Festival is not only a showcase but also an incubator of innovative projects born from the collaboration between emerging talents and established professionals. This creative synergy drives new economic opportunities in the audiovisual sector, fostering investments, youth employment, and strengthening the local production ecosystem.

Artistic residencies & project incubation.
Targeted networking: pitching, mentoring, meetings with producers.
Focus on VR/AR, serial formats, and content design.
18 projects in development, 6 international co-productions launched (2024).
55 % of crews under 30, 48% women; shoots based in the region.

Our current contribution to the UN Sustainable Development Goals

We support cinema enthusiasts and industry professionals of all ages and backgrounds, actively participating in educating younger audiences through various learning, training and development initiatives, ensuring effective learning opportunities for everyone.
We foster the production and distribution of films that highlight societal and environmental issues. We facilitate the acquisition of skills and ideas for promoting sustainable development and a culture of inclusion that values diversity.
We create opportunities and spaces to give a voice in the education and training process to professionals from developing countries.

We aim at achieving an appropriate balance in our staff and ensure that women are adequately involved in decision-making and governance at all levels. Notably, in 2019, we were one of the first festivals to sign up to the Programming Pledge for Parity and Inclusion in Cinema.
We guarantee gender parity and equal pay at all levels, not only among its staff but also in the selection of films presented each year.
We actively pursue our commitment to health and safety at work and at the Event through a policy of zero tolerance for any form of violence, including verbal or physical abuse and sexual harassment.

The Event feeds into the local economy, creating jobs and promoting the region's image worldwide. In conducting our activities, we give preference to local suppliers, while our international importance brings major reputational benefits for the region and our perceived identity.
Funding from the Event is directed towards activities of high social and educational value, such as the renewal and refurbishment of urban and environmental sites and the organization of highly qualified training pathways like the Locarno Academy and Locarno Pro initiatives.
We offer placements and internships to young people from the region, leveraging our extensive knowledge and network of contacts to develop local professional skills.
We strive to develop lasting partnerships with local suppliers that share principles of sustainability.

We do not tolerate discrimination of any kind and offers equal opportunities to all employees, participants, and film industry professionals. We also provide ethics and compliance training to all employees and actively communicate our anti-discrimination policy to participants.
We promote the film industry of developing countries and ensures opportunities for people hindered by economic or political limitations to participate in its activities.
Through our measures, we promote fuller geographical representation and the presence of underrepresented countries in financial and economic decision-making bodies at international and global levels.

We strive to reduce its environmental footprint by engaging in recycling, reuse of resources, and minimizing consumption. Recent efforts have significantly reduced waste production, with inevitable waste being properly disposed of.
All our official events are zero waste, with all leftovers available for collection through collaboration with Too Good To Go.
We works with industrial partners for waste recycling and disposal and local authorities to improve logistical efficiency. Sustainable merchandise includes items made from recycled or sustainable materials like organic cotton bags and R-Pet neckerchiefs. We collaborate with over 150 local suppliers to minimize waste and transportation.
We encourage digital tickets and programs to minimize paper waste, launching an enhanced mobile website version and reducing the print run of publications by 33% compared to 2023.
We are committed to implementing new tools to monitor the impact of sustainable development, which not only creates employment but also promotes local products and culture.

The Locarno Green Project aims at shifting the production within the film industry by promoting the adoption of green protocols and raising awareness of relevant environmental issues through the official award "Pardo Verde", supported by the Ente Regionale per lo Sviluppo del Locarnese e Vallemaggia.
We are actively working towards reducing our environmental impact by calculating GHG emissions (Scope 1, 2, and 3) and starting a decarbonization process.

We collaborate with various actors, from local players to the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), including Main Partners focused on sustainable development. These Partnerships are fundamental in achieving significant results in sustainable development.
Our Partnerships are based not merely on financial arrangements but also on shared visions and values with the involved actors.