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| Mare's Nest Photo: Ben Rivers |
The Romanian filmmaker's latest is a comedy drama exploring the legend behind Transylvania's most famous character.
There are 16 additional world premieres competing for the Golden Leopards in the international competition, including UK filmmaker's Ben Rivers' Mare's Nest, about a child travelling through an adult-free world. It's the second year in a row Rivers has been at the festival, with Bogancloch world premiering there last year.
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| With Hasan In Gaza Photo: Kamal Aljafari Productions |
The third in the Mektoub, My Love series by Abdellatif Kechiche (Blue Is The Warmest Colour) will also feature, Mektoub, My Love: Canto Due. Other notable titles in the line-up including Palestinian filmmaker Kamal Aljafari's With Hasan In Gaza. On the website of the Doha Film Institute, which has backed the project, he says: "I went to Gaza 24 years ago. This is my first film, which I have never made...This footage now stands as a testament to a place and time that no longer exists."
What Do We See When We Look At The Sky director Alexander Koberidze will also premiere his latest film, Dry Leaf, in competition. The plot, according to producer NewMatterFilms is: "Sports photographer Lisa vanishes without warning, leaving behind a letter asking not to be found. She was last seen photographing rural football fields in remote Georgian villages. Her father, Irakli, unable to accept her disappearance, sets out on a journey to find her."
Among the Piazza Grande open-air screenings will be will be Miguel Ángel Jiménez’s The Birthday Party, which stars Willem Dafoe, Emma Suarez and Joe Cole. Dafoe plays a tycoon hosting a birthday party on an island for his daughter... and secretly planning a decision on her behalf.
Other big hitters in that section include Cannes' titles Sentimental Value, by Joachim Trier, and Jafar Panahi's Palme d'Or winner It Was Just An Accident.
The festival has previously announced that Cambodian filmmaker Rithy Panh (One Evening After War) will be the jury president of the international competition. Emma Thompson, Alexander Payne, Jackie Chan, Marcel Barelli, Milena Canonero and Lebanon’s Abboutt Productions will receive honurs.
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| Willem Dafoe stars in The Birthday Party Photo: Heretic |
“A playful and dangerous cinema that takes many risks, but also a cinema that does not forget to laugh and smile, and to question history in all its aspects. A necessary cinema, therefore, to be discovered in the darkness of the screening hall, where we rediscover the profound sense of aesthetic pleasure and feel part of a community. These are films designed for the cinema and for the collective experience in front of the screen. Once again, cinema is now – and facing into the future.”
Titles announced today:
International Competition
- The Seasons (Port-Fr-Sp), Dir. Maureen Fazendeiro
- God Will Not Help (Cro-It-Rom), Dir. Hana Jušić
- Donkey Days (Neth-Ger), Dir. Rosanne Pel
- Dracula (Romania-Austria-Lux), Dir. Radu Jude
- Dry Leaf (Ger-Geo), Dir. Alexandre Koberidze
- Mosquitoes (It-Swiz-Fr), Dirs. Valentina Bertani, Nicole Bertani
- Le Lac (Switz), Dir. Fabrice Aragno
- Desire Lines (Ser-Bos & Her-Neth-Cro-Ger), Dir. Dane Komljen
- Mare’s Nest (UK-Fr-Can), Dir. Ben Rivers
- Mektoub, My Love: Canto Due (Fr), Dir. Abdellatif Kechiche
- Phantoms Of July (Ger), Dir. Julian Radlmaier
- Solomamma (Nor-Latvia-Lithuania-Den-Fin), Dir. Janicke Askevold
- Sorella Di Clausura (Rom-Ser-It-Sp), Dir. Ivana Mladenović
- Two Seasons, Two Strangers (Japan), Dir. Sho Miyake
- Tales Of The Wounded Land (Leb), Dir. Abbas Fahdel
- White Snail (Austria-Ger), Dirs. Elsa Kremser, Levin Peter
- With Hasan In Gaza (Palestine-Ger-Fr-Qat), Dir. Kamal Aljafari
Cinema Of The Present
- Affection Affection (Fr), Dirs. Alexia Walther, Maxime Matray
- Balearic (Sp-Fr), Dir. Ion de Sosa
- Becoming (Fr-Kazakhstan-Neth-Lithuania), Dir. Zhannat Alshanova
- Blue Heron (Canada-Hun), Dir. Sophy Romvari
- Don’t Let The Sun (Switz-It), Dir. Jacqueline Zünd
- Fantasy (Slovenia-North Macedonia), Dir. Kukla
- Follies (Can), Dir. Eric K. Boulianne
- Sweetheart (It), Dir. Margherita Spampinato
- Hijo Mayor (Arg-Fr), Dir. Cecilia Kang
- Don’t Let Me Die (Rom-Bul-Fr), Dir. Andrei Epure
- Olivia (Arg-UK-Sp), Dir. Sofía Petersen
- The Fin (S Kor-Ger-Qat), Dir. Park Syeyoung
- The Plant From The Canaries (Ger), Dir. Ruan Lan-Xi
- Hair, Paper, Water (Belg-Fr-Viet), Dirs. Nicolas Graux, Trương Minh Quý
- A Balcony In Limoges (Fr), Dir. Jérôme Reybaud
Out Of Competition
- Bobò (It), Dir. Pippo Delbono
- Deathstalker (Can), Dir. Steven Kostanski
- E (Fin), Dir. Anna Eriksson
- Exile (Tunisia-Lux-Fr-Qat-Saudi), Dir. Mehdi Hmili
- I Live Here Now (US), Dir. Julie Pacino
- Judas’ Gospel (It-Pol), Dir. Giulio Base
- Keep Quiet (US), Dir. Vincent Grashaw
- Kerouac’s Road: The Beat Of A Nation (UK-US), Dir. Ebs Burnough
- Le Chantier (Fr-Switz), Dir. Jean-Stéphane Bron
- Legend Of The Happy Worker (US), Dir. Duwayne Dunham
- Nova ’78 (UK-Port), Dirs. Aaron Brookner, Rodrigo Areias
- Silence (Sp), Dir. Eduardo Casanova
- Some Notes On The Current Situation (Isr), Dir. Eran Kolirin
- The Deal (Switz-Fr-Lux-Belg) - eps 3-6, Dir. Jean-Stéphane Bron
Piazza Grande
- In The Land Of Arto (Fr-Armenia), Dir. Tamara Stepanyan
- The Birthday Party (Greece-Sp-Neth-UK), Dir. Miguel Ángel Jiménez
- The Dead Of Winter (US-Ger), Dir. Brian Kirk
- Together (Aus-US), Dir. Michael Shanks
- Sentimental Value (Nor-Fr-Den-Ger-Swe), Dir. Joachim Trier
- Police Story (HK), Dir. Jackie Chan
- Heads Or Tails (It-US), Dirs. Alessio Rigo de Righi, Matteo Zoppis
- The Shining (UK-US), Dir. Stanley Kubrick
- The Deal (Switz-Fr-Lux-Belg)* - eps 1-2, Dir. Jean-Stéphane Bron
- Irkala - Gilgamesh’s Dream (Iraq-UAE-Qat-Fr-UK-Saudi), Dir. Mohamed Jabarah Al-Daradji
- La Petite Dernière (Fr-Ger), Dir. Hafsia Herzi
- Rosemead (US), Dir. Eric Lin
- It Was Just An Accident (Iran-Fr-Lux), Dir. Jafar Panahi
- Kiss Of The Spider Woman (US-Uru), Dir. Bill Condon
