Romanian director Florin Șerban’s ‘You Don’t Belong Here’ wins top prize at Locarno Film Festival

17 August 2026 Romanian director Florin Șerban’s You Don’t Belong Here (Nu e locul tău aici) won the Pardo d’Oro, or Golden Leopard, at the 79th Locarno Film Festival. The award marks Șerban’s return to feature filmmaking after an eight-year absence. The father-son drama impressed the jury of the festival’s International Competition through “the strength of its screenplay, the uniqueness of its vision, and its exceptional command of cinematic language.” The film follows Marius, the chief medical officer at a hospital in his small hometown, who is raising his teenage son, Ioan, alone after the death of his wife. Although confident in his professional life, Marius is unaware that his son spends his nights cycling through town and vandalizing cars with a gang of masked vigilantes. His world i