Locarno Film Festival Critics Week

The Semaine de la critique is an independent section, organised by Swiss Association of Film Journalists, in cooperation with the director and organisers of the Locarno Film Festival.

The Semaine de la critique has its own jury which awards the Grand Prix Semaine de la critique/Prix SRG SSR worth 5000.– CHF for the best film in competition and the Premio Zonta Club Locarno worth 2000.- CHF for a film with extraordinary social commitment.

The Semaine de la critique was first held in 1990. Since then it has reviewed state of the art documentary film-making annually with a selection of works chosen for their specific expressive value or essence.

To date, a total of 215 films have been screened, including productions by Erroll Morris, Fredi M. Murer, Ulrich Seidl, Robert Franck, Nicolas Philibert, Richard Dindo, Abbas Kiarostami, Zhang Yuan, Gianfranco Rosi, Peter Mettler, Claire Simon, Davide Ferrario, Bruno Moll, Thomas Riedelsheimer, Samir, Eryk Rocha, Peter Liechti, Sabine Gisiger, José Luis Valle, Stefan Haupt, Heidi Specogna, Marcel Gisler, Rok Biček and Milo Rau among others.