Miscellaneous Animated filmmaker Marcel Barelli receives the Locarno Kids Award 2025
Ticino animated film director Marcel Barelli will receive the Locarno Kids Award 2025. His first animated feature film "Mary Anning, chasseuse de fossiles" (2025) will celebrate its Swiss premiere in the Kids Screenings section.
02.07.2025, 13:04
SDA
The Ticino director "has established himself as one of the most promising and original voices in Swiss and international animated cinema", wrote the Locarno Film Festival in a press release on Wednesday.
Over the course of his career, Barelli has created short animated films that explore the relationships between humans, animals and nature. In 2022, he won the Swiss Film Award for Best Animated Film with "Dans la nature".
"Mary Anning" celebrated its world premiere at the International Festival of Animated Film in Annecy (F) in June. The film tells the story of twelve-year-old Mary, who discovers the power of knowledge among fossils and new friendships after the death of her father. The film is a tribute to the British paleontologist who became a pioneer in the field at the beginning of the 19th century.
For Barelli, "cinema and animation are made of the same stuff as the dreams that mean the most to us", said Giona Nazzaro, Artistic Director of the festival, in the press release. Barelli will receive the Locarno Kids Award on August 12 on the Piazza Grande. The 78th edition of the Locarno Film Festival takes place from August 6 to 16.
