Festival fixture Hong Sangsoo adds yet another trophy to his cabinet, while outside the main Competition, Argentine debut 'The Illusion of an Everlasting Summer' wins big.

Romanian director Florin Şerban’s “You Don’t Belong Here,” a somber study of anti-Roma racism in the country, has taken the Golden Lion for best film in the International Competition at the Locarno Film Festival, along with a special mention for its young star Teodor Butănescu. The film emerged victorious in a lineup of 17 features at the Swiss fest, including new works by auteurs including Hong Sangsoo, Denis Côté, Ann Oren and Nelson Yeo. It was awarded by a jury headed by Belgian filmmaker Fabrice Du Welz; his fellow jurors included actors Paulina Garcia and Lolita Chammah, producer Marco Alessi and Arte France Cinéma executive director Olivier Père.

“You Don’t Belong Here” reps a return to international festival prominence for Şerban, whose 2010 debut feature “If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle” won the Grand Prix in the 2010 Berlinale competition, but whose subject features have had less impact. The story of a respected doctor discovering that his son has committed a racially motivated murder, his latest was a consensus choice across the festival, also taking the festival’s Junior Jury and Europa Cinemas Label honors. Variety critic Jay Weissberg, however, was less impressed, declaring in a mostly negative review that the film “opens with great promise and finishes with a stupefyingly misguided coda.”

Veteran Korean auteur Hong didn’t leave Locarno empty-handed. Eleven years after his signature comedy “Right Now, Wrong Then” won the Golden Leopard, he was named Best Director for his 35th feature “Nowhere to Lay My Eyes,” a bittersweet family-reunion study that this critic praised for being “as classically and welcomingly Hong as it gets.”

The director’s partner and muse Kim Minhee was another repeat winner, taking the gender-neutral Best Performance award for her quietly affecting turn as an amateur filmmaker spending an awkward weekend with her estranged mother — just two years after taking the same prize in Locarno for Hong’s “By the Stream.” Kim shared the honor with Italian icon Monica Bellucci for her supporting role in Giovanni Tortorici’s coming-of-age tale “Ketticè” — a choice more endorsed by Weissberg, whose review celebrated the star as having “few equals in her ability to project self-aware drama queen with just the right dose of camp icon.”

Rounding out the International Competition awards, Brazilian directors Matheus Farias and Enock Carvalho won the Special Jury Prize for their queer erotic thriller “The Riverbank,” which traces the bond between a cleaner and a fisherman on the mangrove-strewn fringes of Recife. Canadian actor Xavier Bergeron also landed a special mention for his performance in Côté’s “Nobody’s Violence.” Somewhat surprisingly overlooked by the jury, however, was festival buzz title “I Rarely Wake Up Dreaming,” a striking portrait of a transgender marriage amid the upheaval of the war in Ukraine from German director Isabelle Stever; it will have its North American premiere in the main slate of the New York Film Festival next month.

Outside the main competition, Argentine-American photographer Alessandra Sanguinetti’s directorial debut “The Illusion of an Everlasting Summer” was the big winner, taking the top prize in the festival’s secondary Filmmakers of the Present competition, as well as the separately juried award for Best First Feature. A documentary filmed over the course of 25 years, it follows two closely bonded female cousins in Argentina’s rural Pampas region from childhood to womanhood, and was one of the festival’s word-of-mouth critical sensations; it will be distributed by Mubi in North America and the U.K. Another freshman helmer, British artist Beatrice Gibson’s, was named Best Emerging Director by the Filmmakers of the Present jury for her BBC-backed hybrid doc “At Night.”

The 79th Locarno Film Festival will close tonight with a gala screening of French director Marc Fitoussi’s meta film-industry comedy “All About Corinne,” starring Isabelle Huppert and Sandrine Kiberlain.

Golden Leopard for Best Film: “You Don’t Belong Here,” Florin ȘerbanSpecial Jury Prize: “The Riverbank,” Matheus Farias, Enock CarvalhoBest Direction: Hong Sangsoo, “Nowhere to Lay My Eyes”Best Performance: Kim Minhee, “Nowhere to Lay My Eyes”; Monica Bellucci, “Ketticè”Special Mention for Performance: Xavier Bergeron, “Nobody’s Violence”; Teodor Butănescu, “You Don’t Belong Here”

Golden Leopard for Best Film: “The Illusion of an Everlasting Summer,” Alessandra SanguinettiBest Emerging Director Award: Beatrice Gibson, “At Night”Special Jury Prize: “Revolutionaries Never Die,” Mohanad YaqubiBest Performance: Idrissu Tontie Jr., “Our Time Will Come”; Manal Issa, “Summer Meadow”Special Mention: “The Days Off,” Lucila Mariani; “Hanabi,” Ana Vaz

First Feature Award: “The Illusion of an Everlasting Summer,” Alessandra Sanguinetti

Best Auteur Short Film: “The Bovine Comedy,” Ratchapoom BoonbunchachokeSpecial Mention: “And If Thuy Didn’t Exist,” Carlo Francisco ManatadBest International Short Film: “Melk,” Filip AnthonissenPardino d’Argento for the International Competition: “Khufu,” Mahmoud Assi Best Direction for the International Competition: “Mutrion,”Marco CavazzinLocarno Short Film Candidate for the European Film Awards: “Melk,” Filip AnthonissenSpecial Mention: “Las Damas,” Camille ZéhenneBest Swiss Short Film: “Typhoon Mambo,” Domenico Singha PedroliPardino d’Argento for the National Competition: “Take Care,” Patricia StrübinBest Swiss Newcomer Award: “Respirer une fois sur trois,” Charlyne Genoud

Locarno Kids Award: “Paradeisa,” Marleen Valien

Pardo for Change Award: “Our Time Will Come,” Amartei ArmarSpecial Mention (Feature Film): “The Newcomers,” Rodrigo Plá, Mexico/SpainSpecial Mention (Short Film): “Private Property,” Deepak Rauniyar

Ecumenical Jury Award: “Nowhere to Lay My Eyes,” Hong SangsooFIPRESCI Prize: “Far From the Trees,” Meritxell Colell AparicioEuropa Cinemas Label: “You Don’t Belong Here,” Florin Șerban

First Prize: “You Don’t Belong Here,” Florin ȘerbanSecond Prize: “Nobody’s Violence,” Denis CôtéThird Prize: “Manhunt,” Wayne Wapeemukwa“The Environment is Quality of Life” Prize: “I Rarely Wake Up Dreaming,” Isabelle SteverSpecial Mention: “D’ici là,” Sarah LeonorFirst Prize (Filmmakers of the Present): “Tear Gas,” Uta BeriaSpecial Mention: “The Illusion of an Everlasting Summer,” Alessandra SanguinettiLeopard of Tomorrow (International Competition): “Forgotten Spaceman,” Elham EhsasSpecial Mention: “First Fire,” Blanca Camell GalíLeopard of Tomorrow (National Competition): “Respirer une fois sur trois,” Charlyne GenoudLeopard of Tomorrow (Auteur Competition): “Āsheghetam,” FilmsaazsSpecial Mention: “The Bovine Comedy,” Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke“The Environment is Quality of Life” Prize: “Concrete Moves,” Fagamou Fama Ndiaye

Grand Prix: “Blossoming,” Kamila SerwickaMarco Zucchi Award: “Only the Serpent Knows,” Olivier Séror, Martin Verdet