Forgot password

Actress Kim Min-hee (left) and director Hong Sangsoo
at the 79th Locarno Film Festival. (provided by Seoul Shinmun)

Nowhere to Lay My Eyes won the Pardo for Best Direction, the Pardo for Best Performance, and the Ecumenical Jury Prize at the 79th Locarno Film Festival. Director Hong Sangsoo received the Best Direction award, while lead actress Kim Min-hee won Best Performance. The awards ceremony was held on the closing night, August 15 (local time), in Locarno, Switzerland.

Since 2023, the Locarno Film Festival has awarded a single, gender-neutral Best Performance prize rather than separate best actor and actress honors. This year, the award was shared by Kim Min-hee and Italian actress Monica Bellucci for Ketticè.

The Ecumenical Jury Prize is an independent award presented by a jury separately convened by the Swiss Protestant and Catholic churches, given to a film that engages deeply with human dignity, social values, peace, and human rights.

Hong Sangsoo's 35th Feature, With Kim Min-hee as Both Lead and Production Manager

Nowhere to Lay My Eyes is Hong Sangsoo's 35th feature film. It follows Sanghee, who grew up in a divorced household, as she travels to Jeju Island to find her mother, whom she last saw ten years earlier. The cast includes Choi Myung-gil, Kim Min-hee, Kwon Hae-hyo, Shin Seok-ho, and Park Mi-so. Hong Sangsoo handled directing and screenwriting as well as cinematography, sound, editing, and music, while Kim Min-hee served as both lead actress and production manager.

The film marks Kim Min-hee's return to acting after giving birth. At a post-screening audience Q&A on August 13 (local time), she said it was the first film she made after having her baby. She added that during filming, she brought her baby to set and managed breastfeeding and preparing baby food alongside her work.

This was the first official public appearance the two have made together since Kim Min-hee gave birth to a son with Hong Sangsoo last April. On the awards stage, Kim Min-hee said she was grateful to the director for making a film as beautiful as a poem.

A Locarno History Stretching Back to the 2013 Best Direction Win for Our Sunhi

This marks the fifth time Hong Sangsoo has been invited to the Locarno Film Festival. He won Best Direction in 2013 for Our Sunhi, and took the festival's top prize, the Golden Leopard, in 2015 for Right Now, Wrong Then. With this win, Hong Sangsoo now has two Best Direction awards from the festival.

Kim Min-hee has also now won Best Performance twice, having previously received the award for Hong Sangsoo's 2024 film By the Stream. Kim Min-hee and Hong Sangsoo first began working together on 2015's Right Now, Wrong Then and have continued collaborating since.

No domestic release date has been announced for Nowhere to Lay My Eyes, but it is expected to open in South Korea later this year. Attention now turns to how domestic audiences will respond to the acclaim the film received at the international festival.

Sources

• The Korea Times, "Actor Kim Min-hee attends Locarno film fest with director Hong Sang-soo," 2026.08.14

• SBS, "Kim Min-hee Makes First Public Appearance Since Giving Birth to a Son, Attends Locarno Film Festival with Hong Sangsoo," 2026.08.14

• Seoul Shinmun, "Breastfeeding on Set Made Things Different This Time: Kim Min-hee and Hong Sangsoo's First Joint Public Appearance Since Childbirth [Spotted]," 2026.08.14

• Segye Ilbo, "Hong Sangsoo's Nowhere to Lay My Eyes Wins Best Direction at Locarno... Kim Min-hee Wins Best Performance," 2026.08.15

• Kyunghyang Shinmun, "Kim Min-hee and Hong Sangsoo Return After Birth of Son as Nowhere to Lay My Eyes Breaks Through — Triple Crown Win at Locarno Film Festival," 2026.08.16