Japanese filmmaker Sho Miyake’s Two Seasons, Two Strangers has won the top prize, the Golden Lion, at Locarno’s 2025 edition.

Based on a manga by surrealist artist Yoshiharu Tsuge, the film stars Korean actress Shim Eun-kyung as a screenwriter who reflects on her life through a journey sparked by a chance encounter with a stranger.

The Golden Leopard for best film comes with a cash prize of CHF 75,000 ($86,650) to be shared equally between the film’s director and producer.

The special jury prize was awarded to Elsa Kremser and Levin Peter’s Austria-Germany co-production White Snail, which comes with a prize of CHF 35,000 ($40,400), again to be shared equally between the director and producer. The heavily improvised film focuses on the relationship between a model and a mysterious lo

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