"Locarno Città della Pace" Award

Organizers: City of Locarno and Locarno Film Festival

Monday, August 11, 2025.

• General communiqué

On August 11, 2025, as part of the Locarno Film Festival's Diplomacy Day and Locarno Treaties centennial celebrations, the City of Locarno awarded the first Locarno Città della Pace Award to Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof.

Established by the City of Locarno in collaboration with the Locarno Film Festival, the award-which takes place every two years-is intended to honor figures in the cultural world who distinguish themselves in promoting peace, diplomacy and dialogue among peoples. It was created with the aim of strengthening Locarno's role as a city that symbolizes dialogue and peaceful coexistence and to celebrate the centenary of the 1925 Locarno Treaties, a crucial step in 20th-century European diplomacy.

The jury for this first edition was composed of:

• Ruth Dreifuss, former President of the Swiss Confederation and member of important human rights commissions

• Laura Sadis, member of the assembly of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), former Councilor of States and member of the National Council

• Marco Solari, Honorary Citizen of the City of Locarno and Ambassador of the Esprit de Locarno, Honorary President of the Locarno Film Festival

• Raphaël Brunschwig, CEO of the Locarno Film Festival

• Nicola Pini, Mayor of the City of Locarno

Rasoulof's choice was motivated by his poetic and political cinema, capable of combining formal rigor and civic engagement, boldly addressing themes such as freedom, individual responsibility and human dignity.

With films such as There Is No Evil (Golden Bear at the Berlinale) and The Seed of the Sacred Fig Tree (Special Jury Prize at Cannes 2024 and screened on the Piazza Grande at Locarno78), Rasoulof has been able to combine aesthetics and ethical commitment. In 2024 he was sentenced in Iran to eight years in prison and flogging; shortly before his arrest he managed to flee the country.

The Locarno Città della Pace Award represents the first step in a multi-year project aimed at consolidating Locarno's international profile as a place for reflection and exchange under the banner of art and diplomacy.

Locarno City of Peace

Since the 20th century, the City of Locarno and the Locarno area have distinguished themselves as a territory of welcome, dialogue and a laboratory for social and cultural innovation. Despite European conflicts, this area has maintained a role as a free zone, offering refuge to intellectuals, artists and exiles who have developed ideas, built cross-cultural bridges and left a lasting mark on Western culture. In 1925, Locarno hosted the Peace Conference, one of the highest expressions of what would come to be known as "L'esprit de Locarno", marking a turning point in early postwar diplomacy. This spirit continues to manifest itself today, particularly through the Locarno Film Festival, which was born after World War II as a platform for cultural dialogue, aimed at promoting cinema as a universal language, capable of transcending geographical and cultural boundaries. To celebrate the centenary of the Locarno Treaties, the City is establishing the "Locarno City of Peace" Award, reaffirming the value of an area that has been able to promote peace, democracy and political and cultural dialogue.