Locarno world premieres for HBF, CineMart and Darkroom films 

Five IFFR-backed films celebrate their premieres in Locarno, tracing journeys across remote landscapes and inner worlds: from football fields and villages in rural Georgia, to the wilderness of Tierra del Fuego, the mountains of Bosnia, coming of age in a Kazakh swimming team, and to Bucharest in search of a Serbian singer.

Two of the films were presented in the 2025 edition of IFFR Pro’s work-in-progress platform Darkroom, with three titles backed by the Hubert Bals Fund, including two Netherlands minority co-productions backed through the NFF+HBF scheme. 

Concorso Internazionale

Locarno’s main international competition.

Desire Lines, Dane Komljen, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Netherlands, Croatia, Germany – HBF Development 2018, NFF+HBF 2022

Balancing fairy-tale and horror, Bosnian filmmaker Dane Komljen describes his third feature as “a film about walking, moving, and shapeshifting”, following its protagonist Branko as he wanders Belgrade’s fringes before venturing into the mountains. For the later locations, he shot in remote rural Bosnia, known to be a migration route into Europe. 

The project received Development Support from the Hubert Bals Fund in 2018, and was later backed by NFF+HBF, the partnership between the HBF and the Netherlands Film Fund, providing co-production funding through Dutch co-producer SeriousFilm. 

As well as screening numerous shorts at IFFR, Komljen’s first feature All the Cities Of the North screened at IFFR 2017, and was also supported by the Hubert Bals Fund. 

In an interview with SEE NL, the film’s Netherlands-based Serbian producer Nataša Damnjanović of Dart Film described the HBF as “one of the most open-minded film funds out there…nowadays one of the very rare islands where there is still care and understanding for arthouse film. In that sense, I would say the Netherlands is a very important partner for us.”

Dry Leaf, Alexandre Koberidze, Germany, Georgia – Darkroom 2025

Winner: Special Mention – Concorso Internazionale

Lisa vanishes without a trace while photographing rural football stadiums in villages across Georgia. Alexandre Koberidze’s Dry Leaf is the journey of her father Irakli who sets out to find her, traveling from place to place in search of her traces – like the unpredictable descent of a dry leaf in the wind. 

The work-in-progress was presented at Darkroom 2025, as part of a special platform for Georgian filmmakers amid the urgent political situation. 

“In football, a “dry leaf” is a kick with an unpredictable landing of the ball – much like our characters who surrender to the journey and trust the wind to lead them”, says Koberidze in his Locarno director statement. 

The filmmaker’s debut Let the Summer Never Come Again (2017) won the Grand Prix at FIDMarseille, before What Do We See When We Look at the Sky? received the FIPRESCI Prize at the 2021 Berlinale.

Sorella Di Clausura, Ivana Mladenović, Romania, Serbia, Italy, Spain – CineMart 2022, Darkroom 2025

Presented alongside Dry Leaf in Darkroom 2025 was Romania-based Serbian filmmaker Ivana Mladenović’s Sorella Di Clausura, after its selection for CineMart in 2022. 

Stela has been obsessed with a famous Serbian musician since seeing him on TV when she was 12. She travels to Bucharest to track him down, in Ivana Mladenović’s absurdly comedic parody of romantic melodrama, set amid the 2008 financial crisis on the outskirts of the Balkans. 

Mladenovic presented her feature film debut Soldiers. Story From Ferentari at IFFR 2018, before her Ivana the Terrible won the Locarno Special Jury Prize in 2019. The project is produced at microFILM by renowned Romanian producer Ada Solomon.

Concorso Cineasti del Presente

Locarno’s competition for first or second feature films.

Becoming (previously The Winner is Seen at the Start), Zhannat Alshanova, France, Kazakhstan, Netherlands, Lithuania – HBF Development 2021, CineMart (BoostNL) 2022, HBF+Europe 2023, NFF+HBF 2023

Also presented at the 2022 edition of CineMart was Kazakh filmmaker Zhannat Alshanova’s feature debut Becoming, which has its world premiere in Locarno’s competition for first or second feature films.

Set in today’s Kazakhstan, the film follows the 17-year-old Mila who joins an open-water swimming team helmed by the enigmatic Vlad, where she must navigate “desire, pressure, and her environment” on the road towards a “deep transformation.” 

The project is a minority Dutch co-production through Rotterdam’s Volya Films (Mouly Surya’s Djakarta 1946, IFFR 2025 closing film & Wang Bing’s Youth Trilogy) and was supported on three occasions by the Hubert Bals Fund: in development and for co-production support, through NFF+HBF and in partnership with Creative Europe through the HBF+Europe programme. 

Alshanova’s recent short film History of Civilization (2020) won the Pardino d’argento award at Locarno. 

Olivia, Sofía Petersen, Argentina, United Kingdom, Spain – HBF+Europe: Post-production 2024

Shot on 16mm in Tierra del Fuego with a crew of just six people and a cast of over forty non-professional actors, Argentinian filmmaker Sofía Petersen’s Olivia is the mystical story of Olivia, her Father and their home, alone in the mountains. When Father disappears, Olivia descends the mountains in search of him. 

The project was supported by the HBF+Europe: Post-production Scheme in 2024. Petersen’s short Passing Place won the Grand Prix at the 25FPS Festival in 2021.

Meet the IFFR team in Locarno

Jeske van der Slikke and Ayumi Filippone from the Hubert Bals Fund (hbf@IFFR.com), Mélissa Delmée Malétras from International Relations (guest@IFFRcom) and programmer Lyse Nsengiyumva (programme@IFFR.com) will all be attending the festival. Get in touch to say hello or schedule a meeting.