DocNomads film premieres in LOCARNO

The documentary Aurora Borealis directed by Valeriya Kim, a DocNomads student from Kazakhstan, will have its World Premiere in the competitive section Pardi di Domani of the 79th Locarno International Film Festival, held from 5 to 15 August in Switzerland.

Also, AS LIGHT AS AIR, the first feature-length documentary directed by DocNomads graduate Umair Bilal, will have its World Premiere in the Semaine de la Critique.

AURORA BOREALIS

By Valeriya Kim (Kazakhstan) • 19’ • 2026

Following two polar bear cubs born in captivity at Nyíregyháza Animal Park in Hungary, the film reflects on displacement and an inherited longing for a homeland never known.

In Locarno catalogue