Uruguayan dramas Spring Story and The Surubí lead Locarno Pro awards

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Uruguayan dramas Spring Story and The Surubí lead Locarno Pro awards

Developing story first seen 6 hours ago

The Hollywood Reporter · 6 hours ago

Locarno Pro, the industry strand of the Locarno Film Festival, revealed its full slate of award winners on Sunday, with details of the ceremony now confirmed alongside the categories involved: the First Look works-in-progress showcase, the Alliance 4 Development co-production platform, the Antaviana Spanish Previews Award and the fourth Heritage Restoration Contest. As previously reported, Uruguayan cinema was the focus of this year's First Look strand, with "Spring Story" and "The Surubí" among the biggest winners, while the Franco-Swiss-German co-production "Yazz" took a leading Alliance 4 Development prize.

"Spring Story" (Historia de primavera), a Uruguayan drama about a fleeting romance that unfolds between Montevideo and Venice, won the Bright Side of the Moon First Look Award for colour grading and the Le Film Français Award for advertising space. "The Surubí", an Uruguayan-Brazilian co-production about a declining industrial town transformed by supposed miracles, took the La Mayor Cine Award for sound post-production, plus the Music Library & SFX/Acorde Award (worth €45,000) and the Jannuzzi Smith Award for international poster design (worth €10,000). "Yazz", directed by Florian Hoffmann and produced across Switzerland, Germany and France, about a young woman raised on a UN compound in the Central African Republic, received the Nebel Studios Award, worth an estimated CHF 30,500 in studio and camera equipment. The 79th Locarno Film Festival continues until 15 August.

  • Locarno Pro confirmed its 2026 industry award winners on Sunday.
  • Uruguayan films "Spring Story" and "The Surubí" swept multiple prizes.
  • Franco-Swiss-German project "Yazz" won a Nebel Studios development award.

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Locarno is one of the world's oldest and most respected film festivals, held each year in the Swiss town of Locarno. Alongside the films it screens for the public, it runs industry-facing programmes that help filmmakers finish and finance projects still in progress, offering things like funding, equipment, studio time and marketing support rather than simply showing a finished film.

This year's awards went to three unfinished projects from different parts of the world: a Uruguayan film set in Montevideo, a Brazilian co-production about an industrial town, and a Franco-Swiss-German film about a woman reckoning with her past. These prizes matter because industry support at this stage can be the difference between a project reaching cinemas or stalling, and they also offer an early signal of which filmmakers and stories the festival circuit sees as ones to watch.

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Originally published by The Hollywood Reporter as “‘Spring Story,’ ‘The Surubí,’ ‘Yazz’ Among Locarno Pro Winners”.