Overview

• Hijo mayor won the Best Emerging Director prize in Locarno’s Cineasti del Presente section and carries a 20,000-Swiss-franc award funded by local authorities.
• The film marks Kang’s debut in fiction, co-produced by Argentina’s Tarea Fina under Juan Pablo Miller and France’s In Vivo Films.
• Hijo mayor follows Lila, a Korean-Argentine teenager, as she navigates family memories and questions of identity in a new country.
• The Locarno jury that honored Kang included actress Asmara Abigail, actress Kani Kusruti and curator La Frances Hui.
• The accolade arrives amid ongoing disputes over INCAA leadership and past public criticism of Kang’s earlier documentary work.