The 2026 Locarno Film Festival will honor a trailblazing Iceland-born, U.S.-based film, music video and TV producer who has been behind some of the most popular and renowned movies and series of the past decades: Sigurjón “Joni” Sighvatsson. He will be celebrated with the Raimondo Rezzonico Award in the Swiss town’s Piazza Grande on the evening of Aug. 6, with the official program screening two key films from his career: David Lynch’s Wild at Heart (1990) and Philippe Parreno and Douglas Gordon’s soccer icon documentary Zidane, A 21st Century Portrait (2006).
“Whether as co-founder of Propaganda Films in 1986 – a powerhouse that once produced a third of all music videos in the United States, including early works by Zack Snyder, Spike Jonze, Gore Verbinski, Michael Bay and co-founder David Fincher – or as producer for David Lynch’s Palme d’Or winner Wild at Heart and Julian Schnabel’s groundbreaking Basquiat (1996), [he] has played a crucial role in seeking out new talent and in shaping the pop aesthetics of the modern era,” Locarno said on Tuesday. “Over a remarkable career, he has produced over 60 feature films or TV series – notably Twin Peaks (1990-91) and Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990-2000) – and championed auteur-driven projects that boldly tested the limits of the medium.”
