The
Golden Leopard is the top prize at the
Locarno International Film Festival, an international film festival held annually in
Locarno,
Switzerland since 1946. Directors in the process of getting an international reputation are allowed to be entered in the competitive selection. The winning films are chosen by a jury. The award went under many names until it was named the
Golden Leopard in 1968. The festival was not held in 1951 and the prize was not awarded in 1956 and 1982. As of 2009
René Clair &
Jirí Trnka are the only two directors to have won the award twice, both of them winning in consecutive years.