Young voices, visual poetics and new money shape Locarno 2026

The 79th edition of the Locarno Film Festival combined coming-of-age tales with radical film poetics as record industry attendance pointed to a new wave of rising private investment in independent cinema. Young audiences are returning to movie theatres, raising industry’s hopes that the massive impact of streaming services, video games and social media can be offset by a renewed appetite for shared cultural experiences. Coincidence or not, a remarkable number of films at this year’s festival –…