Locarno Film Festival has become the latest film event to adopt gender-neutral acting awards, starting from its 2023 edition.
The festival will present two Pardo awards for best performances in each of the two major competitions – the Concorso Internazionale and the Concorso Cineasti del Presente.
Locarno becomes the latest film event to remove gender from its acting prizes, following the Berlinale and San Sebastian, which both started their gender-neutral acting awards last year.
Further film events to switch to gender-neutral acting awards include the British Independent Film Awards, the Film Independent Spirit Awards and the Canadian Screen Awards.
“We believe that the choice we have made will further enhance our efforts to showcase and reward talent and creativity, transcending individual categories that are now obsolete,” said Giona A. Nazzaro, artistic director of the festival. “The world is moving forward on a path that is most definitely non-binary.”
Festival president Marco Solari welcomed the change, describing it as “perfectly in tune with the changing sensibilities that are necessary today.”
In 2018, Locarno became the second festival after Cannes to sign the Programming Pledge for Parity and Inclusion in Cinema. As a result of that signature, the festival now publishes a regular statistical survey of gender representation.
The 76th Locarno Film Festival is scheduled to take place from August 2-12, 2023.
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