Apr 1, 2026 8:44am PT

Lili Hinstin, Former Artistic Director of Locarno and Biarritz Film Festivals, Dies at 48

Elsa Keslassy

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Elsa Keslassy

International Correspondent

@elsakeslassy

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Lili Hinstin, Former Artistic Director of Locarno and Biarritz Film Festivals, Dies at 48

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Lili Hinstin, the well-respected programmer who worked as artistic director of Locarno Film Festival and Biarritz’ Nouvelles Vagues Film Festival, has died of cancer. She was 48.

Hinstin rocked the international festival circuit in 2018 when she took the helm of Locarno and became the first female artistic director of a major fest, succeeding Carlo Chatrian.

Having previously curated the Cinéma du réel festival in Paris and EntreVues Belfort International Festival, Hinstin helped Locarno ramp up gender equality as female directors represented almost 40% of the selection in 2019. The following year, she spearheaded Locarno through the pandemic and created an entirely new programme called Locarno 2020 – For the Future of Films, and launched the Films After Tomorrow initiative. Most recently, she served as artistic director of the Biarritz’ Nouvelles Vagues Film Festival, which highlights films about youth, for its first three editions in Southwestern France and played a key role in putting the cultural event on the map.