The 2025 edition of the Locarno Film Festival’s Locarno Pro industry strand is promising a jam-packed schedule of events in the Swiss lakeside town next month.
Comedian and disability advocate Maysoon Zayid (You Don’t Mess With the Zohan, General Hospital) will kick-start the event on Aug. 7 with a session entitled “Somewhere Over the Rainbow: Making Movies That Save Lives.”
She will be followed by a panel of high-profile industry representatives, namely AGC Studios chairman and CEO Stuart Ford, Poor Things, Pillion, and My Father’s Shadow producer Ed Guiney of Element Pictures, also known as Yorgos Lanthimos’ longtime producer, and Berlin Film Festival director Tricia Tuttle.
The opening day of Locarno Pro 2025 will wrap up with a panel featuring Claudia Bluemhuber, CEO of Silver Reel, Largo AI CEO Sami Arpa, Allison Gardner, CEO of Glasgow Film, and entertainment lawyer Izzy Abidi of Freshly Ground Stories.
Another highlight of the Locarno Pro 2025 schedule is an Aug. 9 session dubbed “The Producer-Director Relationship,” a conversation between Guiney and Romanian auteur and provocateur Radu Jude. “Join us for an informal conversation between director Radu Jude (Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn, Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World, Kontinental ’25, Dracula) and producer Ed Guiney (The Lobster, 11 Minutes, Poor Things, The Wonder, The Favourite), as they share their experiences and tips on how to turn this complex relationship into a ‘happily ever after’ – at least until the next film,” reads the description for the session.
Other events at this year’s Locarno Pro include such sessions as “Building Sustainable Film Ecosystems in Africa: Financing the Future,” “Public Meets Private: Rethinking Financing Strategies for Independent Film in Europe,” and “Promotional Strategies for Classic Films Today.”
Locarno Pro runs Aug. 7-12. The Locarno Pro awards ceremony will take place Aug. 10, with the awards for Open Doors, the co-production platform and talent development program for filmmakers from regions where artistic expression is at risk, to be handed out on Aug. 12.