Marcel Barelli to Get Locarno Kids Award, Annecy Winner ‘Arco’ to Screen at Fest
Swiss-born director and designer will receive the Locarno Kids Award at the 78th edition of the Locarno Film Festival this summer.
He will be awarded the honor, presented by la Mobiliare, on the evening of Tuesday, Aug. 12. During the festival, Barelli will present the Swiss premiere of Mary Anning, chasseuse de fossiles, his new animated film dedicated to the British paleontologist and fossil pioneer “who revolutionized the discipline in the early decades of the 19th century.”
The fest also unveiled the lineup for this year’s Locarno Kids Screenings, the section dedicated to younger audiences. The program includes Arco, a French animated feature about unexpected friendship and the fate of a world impacted by climate change that won the best film award at this year’s Annecy film festival and counts Natalie Portman among its producers. “Barelli has established himself as one of the most promising and original voices in Swiss and animation cinema,” Locarno organizers said. “In short films, such as Gypaetus helveticus (2011), Vigia (2013) – winner of the Pardino d’Argento at the 66th , Lucens (2015), and Habitat (2016), Barelli has developed a unique poetic style sensitive to themes of environmental sustainability, exploring the deep relationship between humans, animals, and nature. In 2022, he received the Swiss Film Award for best animated film with Dans la nature (2021).” Said Giona A. Nazzaro, artistic director of the Locarno Film Festival: “Marcel Barelli represents an idea of resistance to the conformism of emotions, which becomes a light and dreamy trait to outline a world to rethink and rebuild, returning it to human beings of all ages. According to Barelli, cinema and animation are made of the same material as the most precious and generous dreams.”
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The 78th edition of the Locarno festival takes place Aug. 6-16. Here is the lineup for the Locarno Kids Screenings 2025:
Arco by Ugo Bienvenu – Opening Film Swiss Premiere
Fantastique by Marjolijn Prins World Premiere Grevlingene (The Badgers) by Paul M. Lundø – Closing Film World Premiere io non ti lascio solo by Fabrizio Cattani World Premiere
L’Olívia i el terratrèmol invisible (Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake) by Irene Iborra Rizo International Premiere Skrzat. Nowy początek (Pixie. The New Beginning) by Krzysztof Komander International Premiere Tichá pošta (Secret Delivery) by Ján Sebechlebský International Premiere
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