GENEVA, Aug 15, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - "You Don't Belong Here" by Romanian director 
Florin Serban won the Golden Leopard on Saturday at the 79th Locarno Film 
Festival in Switzerland, while Italian star Monica Bellucci won an acting 
award in another movie.

Serban, a leading figure of the Romanian New Wave, said on the festival 
website that his film was "above all, a portrait of a way of seeing the world 
that may be disappearing. Or perhaps should disappear."

The jury honoured Monica Bellucci for her role in "Kettice" by Giovanni 
Tortorici, a film about teenagers' search for identity and desire for 
freedom.

South Korean actress Kim Minhee also won an acting award for "Nowhere to Lay 
My Eyes," by Hong Sangsoo, the story of a brother and sister visiting their 
mother on Jeju Island.

Serban's dark film clocks in at more than two-and-a-half hours, exploring the 
relationship between Marius, the head doctor at the hospital in his small 
hometown, and his teenage son Ioan, whom he has raised alone since his wife's 
death.

Marius's world is turned upside down when he learns that the police suspect 
his son of murder. The festival jury praised the film for the "strength of 
its writing, the uniqueness of its vision, and its exceptional command of 
film language".

Seventeen films competed for the Golden Leopard, the highest honour at the 
film event held every summer in the small Swiss town on the shores of Lake 
Maggiore. It comes with a prize of 75,000 Swiss francs ($92,000), shared 
between director and producer.