Wolfgang Tillmans designs poster for Locarno78

The Locarno Film Festival is once again relying on a work of art of international standing for its visual identity: Wolfgang Tillmans, one of the most influential contemporary photographers, has designed the poster for the 78th edition of the festival. The motif shows a leopard embedded in a composition of yellow and violet tones, created using Tillmans' experimental Xerox technique. The blurred texture gives the image a peculiar depth, while the psychedelic color palette is reminiscent of earlier festival posters.

"The Locarno poster must show a leopard and the color yellow," was the briefing. For his interpretation, Tillmans combined a photo of a leopard taken in Kenya with faux fur mittens in a leopard pattern that he had sewn himself as a teenager. "The copier scans in four passes for the four CMYK colors, and I moved the photo and the fluffy mittens so that a particularly large amount of yellow appeared in the printout during the scanning process, while other colors flashed at the edges," explains the photographer.

Maja Hoffmann, President of the Locarno Film Festival, describes the poster as a celebration of imagination: "This year's festival poster captures the bold, emotional and vibrant spirit of cinema. In his work, Wolfgang Tillmans - one of the most important artists of our time - blurs the boundaries between abstraction and reality. Like cinema itself, his work explores the different levels of perception with a sensitivity that challenges common conventions."

The Locarno Film Festival will take place from August 6 to 16, 2025. The official poster is now available in advance.