Special Awards

Pardo d'onore Swisscom

For some 20 years now, the Pardo d'onore Swisscom has provided an opportunity to commend illustrious film directors, who embody the very idea of cinema that the Locarno Festival has supported so passionately since its inception: the best of auteur film, creative and audacious, with a strong vision and a personal style, endlessly reinventing itself. Locarno is proud to number amongst recipients of the Pardo d'onore such master filmmakers as Jacques Rivette, Manoel de Oliveira, Samuel Fuller, Bernardo Bertolucci, Jean-Luc Godard, Daniel Schmid, Ken Loach, Ermanno Olmi, Terry Gilliam, Abbas Kiarostami, Wim Wenders, Aleksandr Sokurov, Hou Hsiao-Hsien, Amos Gitai, William Friedkin, Alain Tanner, JIA Zhang-ke and, in 2011, Abel Ferrara.

Excellence Award Moët & Chandon

Every year this prestigious award celebrates one or more internationally acclaimed actors or actresses, who, through their work and talent, have enriched the cinema with their unique contribution. Since 2004, the Locarno Festival has been honoured to thus pay tribute to Oleg Menchikov, Susan Sarandon, John Malkovich, Willem Dafoe, Carmen Maura, Michel Piccoli, Toni Servillo, Chiara Mastroianni and, in 2011, Isabelle Huppert.

The Best Independent Producer Award – Raimondo Rezzonico Prize

Wishing to highlight a key figure in film, and to salute their courage, their ability to take a risk and support auteurs, with this Award the Locarno Festival has already paid tribute to the work of such renowned producers as Paulo Branco, Ruth Waldburger, Karl Baumgartner, Jeremy Thomas, the French collective Agat Films & Cie, Lita Stantic, Christine Vachon, Martine Marignac, Menahem Golan and, in 2011, Mike Medavoy.
The Best Independent Producer Award was established in 2002 in memory of Raimondo Rezzonico, president of the event for almost twenty years. The Prize (worth CHF 10,000) is offered by the City of Minusio.