The Pardo for Best Direction award is given annually at the Locarno Film Festival to the best director in the Main Competition (Concorso Internazionale).
Among its winners are: René Clair, John Ford, Roberto Rossellini, Hong Sang-soo, Pedro Costa, Andrzej Żuławski, and Abel Ferrara.
History René Clair was the award first winner for And Then There Were None (1946), at the festival's 1st edition. Clair is also the first filmmaker to won the prize twice. At the 3rd edition, John Ford and Roberto Rossellini shared the prize, for Fort Apache and Germany, Year Zero, respectively.
After a 46-year-long hiatus, the award was reintroduced at the 59th edition, where Laurent Achard won for The Last of the Crazy People (2006). Canadian filmmaker Denis Côté won twice for All That She Wants (2008) and Curling (2010). Polish filmmaker Andrzej Żuławski won for his last feature film Cosmos (2015).
Chilean filmmaker Dominga Sotomayor was the first woman to win the prize, for her drama film Too Late to Die Young (2018). While Iraqi filmmaker Abbas Fahdel won for Tales of the Wounded Land (2025), marking the first documentary to win the prize.
South Korean filmmaker Hong Sang-soo is the most recent two-time winner, following his win for Nowhere to Lay My Eyes (2026).
Winners
1940s Year English Title Original Title Director(s) 1946 And Then There Were None René Clair 1947 Man About Town Le Silence est d'or 1948 Fort Apache (1st prize) John Ford Germany, Year Zero (2nd prize) Germania anno zero Roberto Rossellini 1949 - 1959: No Award Given
1960s Year English Title Original Title Director(s) 1960 Foma Gordeev Фома Гордеев Mark Donskoy 1961- 2005: No Award Given
2000s Year English Title Original Title Director(s)2006 The Last of the Crazy People Le Dernier des fous Laurent Achard 2007 Capitaine Achab Philippe Ramos 2008 All That She Wants Elle veut le chaos Denis Côté 2009 Tambourine, Drum Бубен, барабан Aleksei Mizgiryov
2010s Year English Title Original Title Director(s) 2010 Curling Denis Côté 2011 Best Intentions Din dragoste cu cele mai bune intentii Adrian Sitaru 2012 When Night Falls 我还有话要说 Ying Liang 2013 Our Sunhi 우리 선희 Hong Sang-soo 2014 Horse Money Cavalo Dinheiro Pedro Costa 2015 Cosmos Andrzej Żuławski 2016 The Ornithologist O Ornitólogo João Pedro Rodrigues 2017 9 Doigts 2018 Too Late to Die Young Tarde para morir joven Dominga Sotomayor 2019 Isadora's Children Les Enfants d'Isadora Damien Manivel
2020s Year English Title Original Title Director(s) 2021 Zeros and Ones Abel Ferrara 2022 I Have Electric Dreams Tengo sueños eléctricos Valentina Maurel 2023 Stepne Maryna Vroda 2024 Drowning Dry Seses Laurynas Bareiša 2025Tales of the Wounded LandAbbas Fahdel2026Nowhere to Lay My Eyes눈둘데가 없네Hong Sang-soo
References
External links