{"id":578389,"date":"2026-08-08T08:32:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T08:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/578389\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T08:32:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T08:32:10","slug":"virginie-efira-receives-locarno-2026-leopard-club-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/578389\/","title":{"rendered":"Virginie Efira Receives Locarno 2026 Leopard Club Award"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tBelgian-born actress\u00a0Virginie Efira<\/a> (All of a Sudden, Parallel Tales, Benedetta, Paris Memories) took the stage in the central Piazza Grande square at the 79th edition<\/a>\u00a0of the Locarno Film Festival<\/a>\u00a0on Friday evening to receive this year\u2019s Leopard Club Award<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt is truly a joy, a privilege and an immense honor for me to be here with you to receive this award,\u201d she said in French in front of a huge crowd in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland, before adding: \u201cI sincerely apologize for only speaking French. Do most people understand?\u201d The crowd\u2019s answer was a loud \u201cyes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tShe continued with praise for the Locarno festival. \u201cI also want to say, and I feel this very strongly when I see you all here in this square, \u2026 that Locarno is perhaps the festival with the greatest faith in the audience,\u201d Efira offered. \u201cThe idea [is] that we, as viewers \u2014 and I share this belief, like you \u2014 are all hungry for films that resonate with us, that move us, that innovate, that offer us something greater, and that we are not finite entities with predictable desires, that we want to be surprised. And Locarno truly has that trust in the audience, and that warms my heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tShe continued: \u201cThe Locarno Film Festival<\/a> is truly avant-garde. It discovers artists, it looks at a cinema that is being invented, and that is extremely important.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tEfira also got emotional, sharing: \u201cI think it\u2019s the first time I\u2019ve received an award like this. I\u2019ve received awards before, at Cannes, for example, but not a recognition like this for several films and for a career. It touches me deeply.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBut the star emphasized that film is about more than one actor. \u201cI share this award with the public who love films, and I also share it with directors, who are true creators,\u201d Efira told the Locarno crowd. \u201cBecause for an actor, this award is a very heavy burden. An actor on their own isn\u2019t much. It\u2019s truly a collective profession. And to achieve something that might have some merit, you need a vision.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tVirginie Efira<\/p>\n

\n\tEfira then namechecked various directors she has collaborated with, such as Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Justine Triet, Rebecca Zlotowski and Val\u00e9rie Donzelli. \u201cOn your own, you\u2019re not much,\u201d Efira concluded. \u201cAnd without the audience, you\u2019re nothing at all. So, thank you for your curiosity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile at the Swiss festival, Efira will present Ryusuke Hamaguchi\u2019s\u00a0All of a Sudden\u00a0(Soudain), for which she won the Palme for best actress at Cannes and for which she learned to act partly in Japanese. With that film and Asghar Farhadi\u2019s <\/a>Parallel Tales<\/a>, Efira pulled double duty in this year\u2019s Cannes competition, winning the best actress honor together with her All of a Sudden co-star Tao Okamoto.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen she mentioned that people in the square can see that film in Locarno on Saturday, her microphone cut out for a few seconds, but the star quickly decided to simply continue talking without amplification, just more loudly. When the mic started working again seconds later, she said to laughs: \u201cOh, it works, great!\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLocarno artistic director\u00a0Giona A. Nazzaro<\/a> had introduced the star, also in French, full of pride. \u201cIt is an incredible honor to welcome Virginie Efira, an incomparable artist,\u201d he said, also praising her for \u201calways remaining true to herself.\u201d And he concluded: \u201cVirginie Efira embodies the modernity of cinema.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter Efira received her honor, it was time for the world premiere of I Is Another<\/a> (Ich Ist ein Anderer), written and directed by\u00a0Felix Randau<\/a> and starring Claes Bang<\/a>\u00a0(The Square<\/a>,\u00a0Bad Sisters,\u00a0Home) and Valerie Pachner<\/a>\u00a0(The Stories<\/a>,\u00a0Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore,\u00a0Four Minus Three<\/a>), which tells the story of Nazi Heinrich Himmler<\/a>\u2018s former massage therapist.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe creative team briefly discussed their film and shared their excitement about being on stage in front of a crowded square full of film lovers. Shared Bang: \u201cI must say: This looks much better than in photos. People, you are amazing! Thank you for coming!\u201d The crowd erupted into applause and cheers before the star added: \u201cThis is so pretty and beautiful and wonderful.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Belgian-born actress\u00a0Virginie Efira (All of a Sudden, Parallel Tales, Benedetta, Paris Memories) took the stage in the central…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":578390,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[458,146,85,399,46,245806,228210,207039],"class_list":["post-578389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-international","tag-israel","tag-locarno-2026","tag-locarno-film-festival","tag-virginie-efira"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=578389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578389\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/578390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=578389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=578389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=578389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}