The 14th Locarno Film Festival was held from 19 to 30 July 1961 in Locarno, Switzerland. The festival opened with Allen Baron's film Blast of Silence, which went on to win the Swiss jury award. Julio Garcia Espinosa attended the festival with Cuba Dances, which according to him was the first picture from the newly nationalized Cuban film industry to compete at a "top-level" film festival in the "West".