The new 4-hour Director’s Cut of Kevin Costner’s Dances with Wolves is set to premiere at Locarno 2026.

      While there are no updates on the distribution of Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 2, which we reviewed two years ago after its premiere in Venice, another epic western by Kevin Costner is gaining renewed attention. The Locarno Film Festival announced today that a 4K restoration of Kevin Costner’s extended Dances with Wolves—restored by the Zurich-based lab Cinegrell in partnership with the festival through its Locarno Heritage project and its international sales agent, K5 International—will have its premiere there on August 7.

      This nearly four-hour film includes about 30 minutes of previously unseen footage, and the festival remarks that “Costner's western epic, which earned seven Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director, played a significant role in redefining the western genre at the onset of the 1990s while shining a light on the historical struggles of Indigenous peoples in America. Presented on the massive screen of the Piazza Grande, this extended edition—which features over half an hour of brand-new material—provides viewers the opportunity to rediscover Costner’s expansive and popular masterpiece as it was originally intended by the director.”

      Additionally, the festival highlights that “Safi Faye’s Letter from My Village (Kaddu Beykat, 1975), winner of the 2025 Heritage Restoration Contest, has also been newly restored by Cinegrell in association with the Locarno Film Festival through its Locarno Heritage initiative and its rights holder, Arsenal Filminstitut. Recognized as the first feature film by a woman from Sub-Saharan Africa to receive commercial distribution, Letter from My Village is set in the rural Serer region of Senegal and chronicles the story of a young couple whose marriage plans are disrupted by drought and the challenging conditions of village life. This critical work, blending documentary and fiction, will premiere in its restored version at the Festival.”

      Artistic Director Giona A. Nazzaro stated, “The Locarno Film Festival has a deep-rooted connection with the history of cinema that encompasses all its eras and forms. From the tradition of significant and innovative retrospectives—which grow richer each year with exciting new additions—to the internationally acclaimed restorations of Locarno Heritage, the Festival has nurtured a meaningful and multifaceted dialogue with both universally lauded masterpieces and those cinematic chapters that remain to be uncovered or preserved. From Kevin Costner to Safi Faye, the Locarno Film Festival connects the cinema of the past with a focus on future generations and today’s audiences, who are already preparing for the challenges presented by new technologies.”

      The press release continues below.

      As part of the Festival’s enduring partnership with the Cinémathèque suisse, two films by Swiss experimental filmmaker Isa Hesse-Rabinovitch – Sirenen-Eiland (1981) and Geister und Gäste (1989) – will be included in the programme, featured in the Cinéma Suisse Redécouvert section, which highlights rediscovered Swiss cinema from the past. A longtime illustrator and graphic artist, Hesse-Rabinovitch transitioned to filmmaking at the age of fifty, creating a diverse body of work. Notably, the screenings in Locarno, organized with the Museum Hermann Hesse in Montagnola, represent the beginning of a long-term project for reinterpretation and presentation of Hesse-Rabinovitch’s works that the Cinémathèque suisse is developing alongside collaborators at the University of Zurich.

      The Locarno Film Festival and mudac – Cantonal Museum of Design and Contemporary Applied Arts at Plateforme 10 arts district, are collaborating to honor the contributions and legacy of Isao Takahata, a co-founder of Studio Ghibli and a master of animation. At Locarno79, the programme will include a presentation of Grave of the Fireflies (Hotaru No Haka, 1988) in tribute to the filmmaker on Friday, August 7, introduced by his son, Kosuke Takahata, and presented in partnership with mudac at Plateforme 10. In 2009, Isao Takahata attended Locarno to receive an Honorary Leopard.

      Lastly, in a special centenary tribute, Histoire(s) du Cinéma will showcase Roger Corman’s last film as a director, Frankenstein Unbound (1990), featuring John Hurt, Raúl Juliá, and Bridget Fonda. This daring blend of science fiction and Gothic horror creatively reshapes the Frankenstein myth for the late twentieth century. The screening in Locarno serves as an appropriate occasion to celebrate the legacy of a bold and exceptionally prolific producer-director, who was previously honored in Locarno.

      The complete official selection for Locarno79 will be unveiled at the press conference scheduled for Thursday, July 9, 2026.

      The 79th Locarno Film Festival will occur from August 5-15, 2026.