Locarno Film Festival names 2026 Concorso Internazionale jury, with Fabrice Du Welz to lead

The 79th Locarno Film Festival has set the lineup for its Concorso Internazionale jury for 2026, naming Belgian filmmaker Fabrice Du Welz as jury president, the festival said. The decision places Du Welz, known for directing and writing feature films that have competed on the international circuit, at the center of the jury’s role in selecting awards in the festival’s main international competition block.

Du Welz will share the jury with Italian producer Marco Alessi, who has worked on genre and author-driven projects that have circulated through European film markets and festival networks. The panel also includes French actress Lolita Chammah, and Chilean actress Paulina García, both of whom bring recent on-screen credits from European and Latin American productions to a jury charged with evaluating competitive works within the Locarno slate.

The festival said Olivier Père will serve as a member of the jury as well. Père is described in the festival’s announcement as former General Delegate of the Quinzaine des cinéastes and the festival’s current Artistic Director, a role that ties him directly to Locarno’s programming and selection process. His presence on the jury reflects the festival’s practice of rotating senior figures across artistic and competitive functions.

Beyond the jury announcement, Locarno’s structure for 2026 is shaped by how juries align with the festival’s different competition sections and independent awards. Concorso Internazionale is the festival’s main competition track, and the jury’s decisions can affect the reputations of emerging filmmakers as well as the commercial trajectory of films as they move from festival premieres to wider distribution.

The festival’s announcement comes as Locarno prepares for its 2026 edition, with its awards and competition schedule dependent on the final programming lineup. Jury panels are typically confirmed ahead of the festival dates to allow filmmakers, sales agents, and festival programmers to plan around deadlines and screenings, including the sequence of premieres and the window during which the jury will deliberate.

Locarno’s choice of a jury that spans directing, producing, and acting aims to cover different artistic perspectives on narrative craft, performance, and production choices, while still operating within the festival’s rules for judging the competitive lineup. The jury’s composition also points to the festival’s continued emphasis on international participation, drawing judges from multiple European and Latin American film industries.

In the 2026 process, Locarno will proceed with competitive screenings and jury deliberations during the festival, culminating in awards announced at the festival’s conclusion. The festival did not announce additional judging criteria in the jury announcement, but Concorso Internazionale prizes are generally tied to the festival’s awards framework for the main competition.

Locarno’s jury announcement also provides a clear marker of institutional accountability for the festival’s awards, with publicly named panel members responsible for decisions affecting filmmakers’ exposure. As with other festival juries, the panel’s work will be assessed by the industry afterward through how the winning films perform with audiences, critics, and distributors, though the jury’s deliberations remain governed by Locarno’s internal procedures.