Five Tips For Submitting Your Film

Nestled among the Alps in the Italian-speaking region of Switzerland, the Locarno Film Festival has been one of the most sought-after places for emerging filmmakers and established auteurs alike since 1946. Here are five key things you should know before submitting:

You’ll Need to Keep In Mind Some Key Deadlines

There are three important deadlines to bear in mind – early, regular, and late – with different associated costs depending on timing and length of your film – so it’s better to get your submission in early if you can. Once you’ve decided on Locarno, you can send us your film and save a bit of extra money on that early submission.

Your Film’s Premiere Status and It Being a Recent Production Are Important Factors

Films should have been completed within the previous 12 months and retain a world or international premiere status. Since Locarno is for the most part a showcase for brand-new films from around the world, this is essential for anyone who is considering submitting their work. For a full list of eligibility criteria, check out our Rules & Regulations. However, world premieres are favoured for the competitive section and also for the out of competition.

Your Film Will Be Carefully Considered by Our Team of Expert Selectors

In order to properly dedicate time and attention to submitted films, Locarno brings together a professional team of programmers from around the world, a melting pot of backgrounds and curatorial approaches, who assist the Artistic Director in building the program. You can submit films from any genre, fiction or documentary, or a work-in-progress. Once the selection process is complete, you’ll receive a reply by the first week of July. However, due to the extensive volume of submissions negative feedback cannot be personalized.

Selected Films Compete For Awards Across Sections

Besides the iconic Golden Leopard (Pardo d’Oro) given to the best film in the international competition, there are also awards for the best director, best first feature, the gender neutral awards for the best actor(s), the most resonating eco-conscious film, a diversified number of awards for short films as well as a second Golden Leopard for the Filmmakers of the Present (Concorso Cineasti del Presente), which puts more of a focus on the work of emerging talents. And that is only the tip of the iceberg – for a full list of awards, check out this complete list.

If Selected, You’d Be Joining a Long List of Greats

What do Marco Bellocchio, Lina Wertmüller, Spike Lee, Kathryn Bigelow, Béla Tarr, Raul Ruiz, Paulo Rocha, Charles Crichton, and Miloš Forman have in common? They all made their debut on the international stage in Locarno. As befits an event with such a long and crucial role in the history of fearless independent film, Locarno has showcased first or early works by some of the major filmmakers of the past 80 years. We’re always on the lookout for the next great talent in need of discovery and exposure.

224 films featured in the official selection in 2025. Many of them were exposed to the world – the press, the audience – for the very first time at our Festival, putting the belief of Giona A. Nazzaro, our Artistic Director, to the test: “Locarno is a truly one-of-a-kind place to test your film with an audience.” These titles are spread out across 11 sections, three of which are where new films compete for the Festival’s eye-popping list of prizes, including the world-famous Golden Leopard.