The French countryside, the mountains of Argentina, the streets of Strasbourg, Marseille, São Paulo, New York, and Taipei, the dirt roads of a village in Southern Egypt, the tiles of a concert hall, and the synthetic surface of a tennis court. A wide range of locations and settings transcended by eleven directors selected for this year’s feature-film programme.
Eleven filmmakers, with their very own take, have once again inspired us and whetted our appetite for cinema with their first and second features. Starting with the opening film, French director Jonathan Millet’s first feature. Based on a true story, Ghost Trails revisits spy film conventions to breathe new sensations into the genre, orchestrating an intense and intimate hunt for a war criminal by one of his victims, interpreted by French-Tunisian actor Adam Bessa;
We are driven not only by revealing new filmmakers, but also actresses and actors whether at the start of their career or to celebrate their achievement. Most of the selected films shed light on a whole new generation: Ayoub Gretaa (Across the Sea), Sayyid El Alami (Block Pass), Louisa Aura and Gio Ventura (Queens of Drama), Liu Wei-Chen (Locust), Tessa Van den Broeck (Julie Keeps Quiet), Lorenzo Ferro (Simon of the Mountain), Ke-Wi Wu (Blue Sun Palace), and Oulaya Amamra in Animale, the closing film of this 63rd edition, a powerful genre film directed in Camargue, by French-Algerian director Emma Benestan.
We focus on French cinema during two special screenings; first Across the Sea, French-Moroccan director Saïd Hamich Benlarbi’s second feature, an elegant epic set in Marseille over a decade to the tune of Raï music; and Queens of Drama, Alexis Langlois’ first feature film, a lesbian musical on the pitfalls of celebrity that doubles down on a passionate, glittery and cheeky love letter to cinema.
The seven competing films hail from Argentina, Taiwan, America, Belgium, France, Egypt, and Brazil.
Simon of the Mountain, Argentinian director Federico Luis’ first feature film, is a coming-of-age story that follows the ebbs and flows of a young man’s borderline personality disorder as he desperately seeks connection. A carnal, earthy film that toys with the tropes of teen movies. While Taiwanese director KEFF pays tribute to the great masters of Taiwanese and American cinema in his first feature film Locust, a sentimental film noir set in the impressive circumstances of popular unrest. In her first feature Blue Sun Palace, American filmmaker Constance Tsang takes us on a journey through the daily life of three Chinese migrants living in Queens. No glitz nor pathos in this sensitive mise-en-scène where stories are told through the body, especially Lee-Kang Cheng’s performance - Tsai Ming-liang’s favorite actor. Yet another physical force is Julie - in Julie Keeps Quiet - a tennis player with nerves of steel, tormented by an investigation into her trainer’s behaviour. Belgian director Leonardo Van Dijl’s utterly modern first feature uses the power and tools of film to show what a struggle it can be to speak up.
In his first film, Block Pass, French director Antoine Chevrollier brilliantly tackles the issue of toxic masculinity in the countryside. A physical, vibrant drama where light shines through and friendship is a bulwark against intolerance. Equally vibrant, The Brink of Dreams - second feature by Egyptian filmmakers Nada Riyadh and Ayman El Amir - is a beautiful documentary with a free and dynamic device about a women’s art group and their empowerment through street performances. And finally a Brazilian queer melodrama, Marcelo Caetano’s second feature film, Baby, beckons through its musical beats and its novelistic breadth. Realities and worlds collide, reaping an emotional whirlwind.
The promise of a programme at the crossroads of various genres, taking you on a journey through worlds.
Ava Cahen
Artistic Director