Screen shines a light on 30 European titles that look set to grab the attention of festival directors in 2024, including new features by Tom Tykwer, Paz Vega, Paolo Sorrentino, Cecilia Verheyden and Baltasar Kormakur.
For our separate list of French festival hopefuls for 2024, click here.
Ariel (Sp-Por)
Dir. Lois Patiño
Patiño won the Encounters special jury prize at Berlin last year for Samsara and picked up the emerging director prize at Locarno in 2013 with Coast Of Death. His latest is a free adaptation of William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, shot in Galicia and The Azores islands. Ariel stars Goya winner Irene Escolar (An Autumn without Berlin) and Agustina Muñoz (Viola).
Contact: Filmika Galaika
Caravan (Cz)
Dir. Zuzana Kirchnerová
Czech filmmaker Zuzana Kirchnerová won the Cinéfondation prize in Cannes back in 2009 and now has finally completed her long-awaited debut feature, Caravan. Produced by Dagmar Sedláčková at MasterFilm, it’s a road movie about a middle-aged mother who, worn down by caring for her mentally handicapped son, sets off to Italy with him where she has the chance of her first holiday in years.
Contact: Dagmar Sedláčková, MasterFilm
Close to the Sultan (Sp-Fr)
Dir. Javier Rebollo
At the dawn of the 20th century, a Sultan is looking for someone to introduce him to the cinematograph - and is introduced to a former operator for the Lumière brothers. Rebollo is a San Sebastian best director winner for 2012’s The Woman Without A Piano. Palme d’Or winning producer Luis Miñarro (Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives) produces in partnership with Elamedia and France’s Paraiso and Noodles.
Contact: Eddie Saeta
Deconstructing An Elephant (Sp-Fr)
Dir. Aitor Echeverría
The debut feature of 2023 Screen Spanish Star of Tomorrow Aitor Echeverría, this family drama has a strong cast headed by Emma Suárez, Natalia de Molina and Dario Grandinetti. The film follows a mother with an alcohol problem and her daughter, who is overly dependent on her mother. It is produced by Spain’s Arcadia and France’s Noodles, the production team behind Pablo Berger’s Robot Dreams, the animation winner at the 2023 European Film Awards; Pegaso Pictures also produces.
Contact: Arcadia Motion Pictures
Eight Postcards from Utopia (Rom)
Dir. Radu Jude, Christian Ferencz-Flatz
Berlin Golden Bear winner Radu Jude’s latest is a found-footage documentary assembled exclusively out of post-socialist Romanian advertisements. Jude has teamed up with philosopher Christian Ferencz-Flatz for the documentary, which draws on the debris of Romania’s long transition period to address love and death through to socialism and capitalism. Jude’s most recent film Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World had its world premiere at Locarno last year.
Contact: Saga Film
The End
Dir. Joshua Oppenheimer (Den-Ger-UK-Swe-Ire-It)
Oppenheimer, known for his inventive Oscar-nominated Indonesian genocide documentaries The Act of Killing and The Look of Silence, returns with something completely different – a post-apocalyptic musical. An international cast of Tilda Swinton, George MacKay, Moses Ingram and Michael Shannon star as the last human family, living in a palatial bunker after having contributed to the world’s demise. Andrey Zvyagintsev’s frequent collaborator Mikhail Krichman serves as DoP.
Contact: The Match Factory
The Girl With The Needle (Den-Swe-Pol)
Dir: Magnus von Horn
After his last two Cannes selections, The Here After and Sweat, von Horn returns with this black-and-white period drama/thriller, shot in Poland and Sweden. Trine Dyrholm (Queen Of Hearts) and Vic Carmen Sonne (Godland) star in the story loosely inspired by a real-life serial killer who murdered numerous babies from 1913-1920. EO cinematographer Michal Dymek reteams with the director after making Sweat together.
Contact: The Match Factory
Hildegart (Sp)
Dir. Paula Ortiz
Set in 1930s Spain, this sexual awakening tale centres on a child prodigy raised by her mother to inspire future women, who gave lectures on feminism from the age of 11. It is the latest film from Amazon Studios in Spain and is produced by Elástica Films and Avalon. Elastica was behind Alcarràs and The Rye Horn, winners at 2022 Berlin and 2023 San Sebastian respectively. Hildegart is the fifth feature from Paula Ortiz, whose credits include Across The River And Into The Trees.
Contact: Elastica Films
Islands (Ger)
Dir. Jan-Ole Gerster
Control and Maleficent star Sam Riley heads the cast for this thriller from top German producer Augenschein and distributor Leonine. It’s the story of a washed up tennis pro coaching tourists on a holiday island who thinks he found a way out with a particular tourist family. Two of Gerster’s films – Oh Boy and Lara – previously world premiered at Karlovy Vary. The film is currently in post.
Contact: Protagonist
Julie Keeps Quiet (Bel)
Dir. Leonardo Van Dijl
This is the debut of Belgian director Van Dijl whose short film Stephanie played in Cannes in 2020. Both are set in the world of competitive youth sports – the short film explored gymnastics, and this takes on tennis. When an investigation into a tennis coach ignites, young talent Julie chooses to keep quiet - leaving the investigation and the coach’s future in doubt.
Contact: New Europe Film Sales
Laura
Dir. Fanny Ovesen (Swe-Nor)
Oslo-based Ovesen makes her anticipated debut feature with a truly cross-border project that shot across seven countries: Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Poland, Czech Republic, Germany and France. The story follows a 19-year-old woman, couch surfing across Europe with a friend, who realises she’s been sexually assaulted. The pitch won Ovesen the Nordic Talents Pitch Prize in 2018.
Contact: Kjellson & Wik - kjellson@kjellsonwik.se
The Light (Ger)
Dir. Tom Tykwer
The Light is the German director’s first film for the cinema since 2016’s A Hologram For A King and centres on a troubled family who take on a Syrian immigrant as a housekeeper. The Run Lola Run and Cloud Atlas director has been busy since 2017 co-creating and co-directing four series of Babylon Berlin. Tala Al Deen stars with Lars Eidinger and Nicolette Krebitz. The Light is being produced by X Filme Creative Pool.
Contact: TBC
The Life Apart (It)
Dir. Marco Tullio Giordana
Cannes, Venice and Locarno prize winner Marco Tullio Giordana is in post on this 1980s set drama about a child who is shielded from the outside world by her parents until her aunt discovers her innate musical talent. Tullio Giordana wrote the script with Marco Bellochio and Gloria Malatesta and it is produced by Simone Gattoni, whose credits include Bellochio’s Kidnapped. Tullio Giordana’s most recent film was Netflix murder mystery Yara. The film will be ready for Spring 2024.
Contact: Intramovies
Limonov: The Ballad of Eddie (Fr-It-Ru)
Dir. Kirill Serebrennikov
Dissident Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov returns with this Ben Wishaw-starring story of Limonov’s life through the second half of the 20th century, taking in Moscow, New York, Paris and the prisons of Siberia. Based on the novel by Emmanuel Carrère, it is produced through France’s Chapter 2 and Italy’s Wildside. Serebrennikov has been in Cannes’ competition three times since 2018 with Leto, Petrov’s Flu, and Tchaikovsky’s Wife.
Contact: Pathe International
Loveable
Dir. Lilja Ingolfsdottir (Nor)
The Worst Person In The World producer Thomas Robsahm has worked with rising writer/director Lilja Ingolfsdottir on this debut feature. The drama centres on a 40-year-old career woman and mother who must come to terms with herself in a new way when her husband asks for a divorce. Loveable won best Nordic project at the Finnish Film Affair 2023.
Contact: TrustNordisk
Maldoror (Bel-Fr)
Dir. Fabrice du Welz
Belgian production outfit Frakas, the co-producer of Titane, is working with maverick Benelux director Fabrice du Welz on this dark new thriller about a young cop obsessed by a case involving child abuse. The film stars Anthony Bajon and has an eclectic cast including Beatrice Dalle and Sergi Lopez. Inexorable, the previous feature on which du Welz and Frakas collaborated, was selected as a special presentation at TIFF. French outfit The Jokers is co-producing.
Contact: WTFilms
Novak (Gr-Switz)
Dir. Harry Lagoussis
Novak is the first English language production from award-winning Greek outfit Heretic and marks the feature debut of Harry Lagoussis, whose previous writing credits include Berlinale Competition title Stratos. It focuses on a reclusive Serbian neuroscientist whose work is rediscovered decades later by a group of young dreamers. Triangle Of Sadness’ Zlatko Burić and Raw’s Ella Rumpf star. The film was developed at script stage at the Torino ScriptLab and participated in Cinemart IFFR.
Contact: Heretic
Orenda
Dir. Pirjo Honkasalo (Fin-Est-Swe)
Veteran filmmaker Honkasalo, whose career spans 50 years and award-winning films including Concrete Night and 3 Rooms of Melancholia, shot her new film in Estonia and Turku, Finland, based on a script by writer-director-actor Pirkko Saisio. The relationship drama exploring guilt and mercy stars Tove and Fallen Leaves breakout Alma Pöysti alongside Saisio. Bufo, whose recent credits include Fallen Leaves, produces alongside Estonia’s Allfilm and Sweden’s Plattform.
Contact: Bufo
Our Wildest Days (Gr-Bel-Fr)
Dir. Vassilis Kekatos
Greek filmmaker Kekatos makes his directorial feature debut after winning Cannes’ Palme d’Or for his short film The Distance Between Us And The Sky in 2019. The modern road movie stars Daphne Patakia (Benedetta, The Five Devils) alongside an ensemble cast of rising talents in a story about a woman who leaves her dysfunctional family to join a group of outsiders through a shattered country.
Contact: Kinology
Parthenope (w/t) (It-Fr)
Dir. Paolo Sorrentino
Written and directed by Oscar winner Paolo Sorrentino, this as-yet-untitled film centres on the life of a woman, Parthenope, from her birth in 1950 through to today. Details are sketchy for the Italian language feature, thought to be a love letter to Sorrentino’s home town of Naples which filmed last year and has Gary Oldman among the Italian cast.
Contact: UTA
Queer (It-US)
Dir. Luca Guadagnino
Daniel Craig headlines Call My By Your Name and Bones And All director Luca Guadagnino’s adaptation of William S. Burroughs’ story. Craig plays the infamous counterculture author’s alter ego, an outcast American expat who lives in Mexico. Outer Banks’ Drew Starkey stars as the younger man with whom he becomes madly infatuated. The film shot last year at Rome’s Cinecittà Studios with Fremantle-owned The Apartment lead producing.
Contact: CAA
Rita (Sp)
Dir. Paz Vega
Underscoring a rising trend in Spanish cinema of actresses going behind the camera, Rita is the directorial feature debut of one of the most international of Spanish stars, Paz Vega, known for Pedro Almodóvar’s Talk To Her and Netflix series Kaleidoscope. The story revolves around seven-year-old Rita and her five-year old brother Lolo from a working-class family as the whole country goes crazy over the European football championships, with Spain in the quarter-finals.
Contact: Filmax
Skiff (Bel-Neth-Swe)
Dir. Cecilia Verheyden
Belgian auteur Cecilia Verheyden is riding high after series Rough Diamonds, which she co-directed, premiered to strong reviews on Netflix last April. Her second feature Skiff, close to completion, is about a teenager who falls for her older brother’s girlfriend. It is produced by Elisa Heene at Mirage and has very strong co-producers in the Dardennes’ Les Films du Fleuve and Dutch indie powerhouse, Lemming Film. The project has come through the Torino Script Lab and the Berlinale Coproduction market.
Contact: Elisa Heene
Tarika (Bul-Ger-Lux)
Dir. Milko Lazarov
The Bulgarian director’s last film Aga closed the Berlinale in 2018, playing out of competition. His latest is about a family, perceived as outsiders, who live an isolated life in a mountain village where the locals look at them with mistrust. When the village is hit by a series of calamities, the suspicions of the locals escalate and they start looking for who to blame. Tarika is shot on 35mm film and should be ready in May 2024.
Contact: Films Boutique
To The Victory (Ukr-Lith)
Dir. Valentyn Vasyanovych
Ukranian filmmaker Valentyn Vasyanovych is back with his next feature following Venice competition title Reflection and Atlantis, named Best Film at Venice’s Orizzonti in 2019. The personal story, originally meant to be a documentary, follows a man in his 50s whose life is falling apart and feels helpless as he wants to support his country, but must tend to his own family and problems.
Contact: TBC
Touch
Dir. Baltasar Kormakur (Ice-UK-Jap)
Iceland’s Kormakur heads East for the first time with this new romantic drama, shot in the UK, Japan and Iceland. Based on Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson’s bestselling novel (which he adapted with the director), the story is about a widower’s journey to find out why his first love disappeared suddenly from his life 50 years ago. Focus Features has dated the film for July 2024, which would make a Cannes berth most timely.
Contact: Universal Pictures International
Two to One (Ger)
Dir. Natja Brunckhorst
The presence of Sandra Huller is likely to attract interest to this comedy about a dismissed worker who finds and tries to exchange millions of Ostmark, the currency of East Germany, after the fall of the Berlin wall. Brunckhorst, who achieved early fame as the lead actress in 1981’s Christiane F. – We Children from Bahnhof Zoo, also wrote the screenplay for her second feature film as a director. Max Riemelt co-stars.
Contact: Playmaker
When The Light Breaks
Dir. Runar Runarsson (Ice-Neth-Cro-Fr)
Iceland’s Runarsson, whose credits include Cannes Directors’ Fortnight feature Volcano and San Sebastian Golden Shell winner Sparrows, returns with his new feature produced with Heather Millard of Compass Films (Band, Cold). Some details are under wraps but the film is about Una, a young art student, whose life is turned upside down during one long summer’s day in Reykjavik.
Contact: The Party Film Sales
The Wolf, the Fox & the Leopard (NL-Lux-Ire-Cro-Tai)
Dir. David Verbeek
Dutch auteur Verbeek has made films in multiple genres, from vampire movies to dramas about drone warfare. His new feature is in post having wrapped shooting in Croatia at the end of last year. It’s about a young woman found living among wolves who is brought back to “civilisation.” No sooner has she arrived at the medical centre than she is kidnapped by environmental extremists. Jessica Reynolds plays the lead.
Contact: Erik Glijnis
Yunan (Ger-Can-It-Pal-Jor)
Dir. Ameer Fakher Eldin
German-based writer and director Eldin’s debut film The Stranger premiered in the Venice Days sidebar in 2021 and went on to be Palestine’s entry for the Oscars. His sophomore feature, which just picked up a Red Sea Souk post-production award, is about an Arab author whose desire for life is reawakened by an encounter on a remote German island with an elderly woman and her son. The cast includes Georges Khabbaz, Cannes best actress winner Hanna Schygulla and Game of Thrones’ Tom Wlashiha and Sibel Kekilli.
Contact: Intramovies
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