​​Locarno 2024 line-up guide: Piazza Grande and International Competition titles

Piazza Grande 

Dog On Trial (Switz-Fr)
Dir. Laetitia Dosch
For her feature debut, French writer/director Dosch was inspired by the real-life case of a dog owner put on trial for his pet’s bad behaviour. Dosch, also a playwright and actress, wrote the screenplay with Anne-Sophie Bailly, and the film made its debut in Un Certain Regard at Cannes, where canine star Kodi won the Palm Dog prize. It is a co-production between Swiss and French outfits Bande à Part Films and Atelier de Production; The Jokers will release in France and Pathé in Switzerland.
Contact: mk2 Films 

Electric Child (Switz-Ger-Neth-Phil)
Dir. Simon Jaquemet
The third film from Swiss director Jaquemet is a high-concept sci-fi in which a desperate father agrees to help free an increasingly powerful AI lifeform he is developing if it will cure his infant son of a terminal illness. Jaquemet’s War (2014) and The Innocent (2018) both played in Locarno, along with a host of other festivals. Electric Child is produced by Zurich-based 8horses.
Contact: 8horses

The Flood (It-Fr)
Dir. Gianluca Jodice
This lavish period drama follows the last days of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette before they were executed. Guillaume Canet and Mélanie Laurent lead the feature, which is co-written by Jodice (The Great Beauty, The Bad Poet) and Filippo Gravino. Shot in Turin and Rome, The Flood is produced by Italy’s Ascent Film, Rai Cinema and Adler Entertainment with France-based co-producer YZE (Quad Cinema); filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino is an associate producer.
Contact: Goodfellas

Gaucho Gaucho (US-Arg)
Dirs. Michael Dweck, Gregory Kershaw
This black-and-white portrait of Argentina’s closeknit, traditional horse-wrangling communities won a US documentary special jury award for sound at Sundance. Filmmakers Dweck and Kershaw previously made 2020 documentary The Truffle Hunters, which also premiered at Sundance and went on to win multiple awards across the festival circuit. Gaucho Gaucho, which was filmed and edited over the course of two years, has sold across multiple European territories ahead of its Piazza Grande appearance.
Contact: Charades

Mexico 86 (Belg-Fr)
Dir. César Díaz
Guatemala-born, Belgium-based filmmaker Díaz follows up his 2019 debut Our Mothers, which won the Camera d’Or in Cannes, with this 1980s-set political drama. Bérénice Bejo, recently seen in surprise Netflix hit Under Paris, plays a Guatemalan revolutionary activist who, having been exiled in Mexico for years, must adapt to her 10-year-old son coming to live with her. Mexico 86 is a co-production between Need Productions, Tripode Productions, Pimienta Films and Menuetto Film.
Contact: Goodfellas

Reinas (Switz-Peru-Sp)
Dir. Klaudia Reynicke
Against the backdrop of political and social upheaval in Peru in 1992, two young girls prepare to leave the country with their mother. Reynicke’s third feature premiered in Sundance’s world cinema dramatic competition and played at Berlin, where it won the Generation KPlus jury prize. Her previous two films, The Nest (2016) and Love Me Tender (2019), both premiered at Locarno. Reinas sold around the world ahead of its Piazza Grande screening, including to the US (Outsider Pictures) and Canada (Films We Like).
Contact: The Yellow Affair

Rita (Sp)
Dir. Paz Vega
Prolific Spanish actress Vega (Sex And Lucia, Talk To Her) makes her feature directing debut with this Spain-set drama, which follows a seven-year-old girl and her five-year-old brother as the whole country goes crazy as Spain reach the quarter finals of the 1984 European football championships. Vega also wrote the screenplay for the film, which is produced by Marta Velasco and Gonzalo Bendala at Aralan Films.
Contact: Filmax

Savages (Switz-Fr-Belg)
Dir. Claude Barras
Swiss filmmaker Barras follows up his 2016 Oscar-nominated My Life As A Courgette — which also won a host of festival and industry awards including two Césars — with another animation, this time set in the tropics of Borneo. Savages, which premiered at Cannes, follows a young girl and a baby orangutan who must navigate a traditional way of life that is increasingly under threat. The festival will also honour Barras with the Locarno Kids Award la Mobiliare.
Contact:Goodfellas 

The Seed Of The Sacred Fig (Iran-Ger-Fr)
Dir. Mohammad Rasoulof
Winner of the Fipresci prize and a special jury prize at Cannes as well as the audience award at Sydney, The Seed Of The Sacred Fig sees a newly promoted investigator on Iran’s Revolutionary Court struggling with the demands of his job and its effects on his family. Iranian filmmaker Rasoulof, who won Berlin’s Golden Bear in 2020 for There Is No Evil, was forced to flee his home country after he was sentenced to a prison term when The Seed Of The Sacred Fig was selected for Cannes.
Contact: Films Boutique

Sew Torn (US-Switz)
Dir. Freddy Macdonald
Coming to Locarno after bowing at SXSW, Macdonald’s debut feature is adapted from the 2019 short of the same name, which he directed when he was 18 years old. It stars Eve Connolly (Vikings) as a seamstress who steals a briefcase from a drug deal gone bad, and explores how her different choices at the crime scene lead to drastically different outcomes. The film is produced by Macdonald’s father Fred (who has produced all of his previous shorts), Barry Navidi, Sebastian Klinger, Diamantis Zavitsanos and Socratis Zavitsanos, in co-production with Swiss outfit Orisono.
Contact: Dante DeSario, UTA 

Shambhala (Nepal-Fr-Nor-Turkey-HK-Tai-US-Qat)
Dir. Min Bahadur Bham
A pregnant Nepalese woman tries to find her missing husband in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa in the second feature from writer/director Bham, whose 2015 debut The Black Hen was a Venice Critics’ Week winner and Nepal’s official Oscars entry. Shambhala comes to Locarno after premiering in Berlin’s Competition — the first ever Nepalese film to do so — and is produced by Bham for Shooney films.
Contact: Best Friend Forever

Timestalker (UK)
Dir. Alice Lowe
UK writer/director/actor Lowe follows her 2016 feature debut Prevenge with this historical time-travel comedy in which hapless woman Agnes (played by Lowe) finds herself reincarnated across different centuries, each time making the mistake of falling for the wrong man. The film, which premiered at SXSW, is produced by UK outfit Western Edge Pictures (which also produced Prevenge) and will be released in the UK and Ireland on September 27 through Vertigo.
Contact: HanWay Films

Also screening in Piazza Grande are 4K restorations of a selection of classic films: Jane Campion’s The Piano, Orson Welles’ The Lady FromShanghai, Jean-Luc Godard’s A Woman Is A Woman and Tarsem’s The Fall.

International Competition

100,000,000,000,000 (Fr)
Dir. Virgil Vernier
After debuting his second narrative feature Sophia Antipolis in Locarno in 2018, and presenting his medium-length Sapphire Crystal here in 2019, French director Vernier returns to premiere his follow-up in International Competition. Written by Vernier and Benjamin Klintoe, 100,000,000,000,000 unfolds in Monaco, following a post-reality TV generation that is obsessed with living a privileged lifestyle. The feature is produced by Petit Film, and UFO Distribution handles the French theatrical release.
Contact: Petit Film 

Agora (Tun-Fr-Saudi-Qat)
Dir. Ala Eddine Slim
The return of three missing people to a remote town in Tunisia proves a perplexing case for the local police in the fourth feature from Tunisian writer/director Slim. His feature The Last Of Us won best debut film at Venice in 2016, and his 2019 drama Tlamless played Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes. Agora, which participated in Marrakech Film Festival’s Atlas Workshops in 2023, is a co-production between France’s Cinenovo and Slim’s Tunisian outfit Exit Productions.
Contact: Ala Eddine Slim, Exit Productions

Bogancloch (UK-Ger-Ice)
Dir. Ben Rivers
A sequel to Rivers’ 2011 documentary Two Years At Sea, which was a prize winner at Venice and CPH:DOX, Bogancloch returns to follow hermit Jake Williams in his titular home in a Scottish highland forest. Rivers has premiered previous works at Locarno, including Krabi, 2562 (2019), co-directed with Anocha Suwichakornpong, and The Sky Trembles And The Earth Is Afraid And The Two Eyes Are Not Brothers(2015).
Contact: Rediance

By The Stream (S Kor)
Dir. Hong Sangsoo
Prolific South Korean filmmaker Hong brings his latest work to Locarno just a few months after winning the Berlinale’s Silver Bear grand jury prize for A Traveler’s Needs. The story focuses on a lecturer at a women’s university and her uncle, a blacklisted actor/director. This is the fourth time Hong has played in International Competition, following Hotel By The River (2018), Right Now, Wrong Then (2015), for which he won the Golden Leopard, and Our Sunhi (2013), which won him the best director prize.
Contact: Finecut

Death Will Come (Ger-Lux-Belg)
Dir. Christoph Hochhäusler
After playing in the Berlinale’s Competition last year with Till The End Of The Night, Germany’s Hochhäusler brings his follow-up to Locarno. Death Will Come stars Sophie Verbeeck as an assassin who is hired by a legendary gangster, only to become a target herself. The film is produced by Germany’s Heimat­film, behind fellow Berlinale 2023 Competition title Ingeborg Bachmann — Journey Into The Desert.
Contact: True Colours

Drowning Dry (Lith-Lat)
Dir. Laurynas Bareisa
Lithuanian director Bareisa won Venice’s Orizzonti award for best film with his debut feature Pilgrims in 2021, and follows it up with this drama that details the aftermath of a near-tragic accident at a family weekend getaway. Bareisa also serves as cinematographer on the film, which is a co-production between Lithuania’s afterschool and Latvia’s Trickster Pictures.
Contact: Alpha Violet

Fire Of Wind (Port-Switz-Fr)
Dir. Marta Mateus
The feature debut of award-winning short filmmaker Mateus, whose 2017 short Farpões, Baldios premiered in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes, Fire Of Wind follows the communities of the Alentejo region of southern Portugal, and is said to guide the audience from the resistance to the Salazar dictatorship to the present day. Mateus produces alongside filmmaker Pedro Costa, who won Locarno’s Golden Leopard in 2019 for Vitalina Varela.
Contact: Portugal Film

Green Line (Fr-Leb-Qat)
Dir. Sylvie Ballyot
Ballyot has concentrated on making shorts since her 2002 debut film Alice, but now presents a feature-length documentary that revolves around Fida, a woman who, with the help of miniature sets and animated figurines, confronts the ex-militiamen who controlled her West Beirut neighbourhood during her childhood. Green Linereceived Doha Film Institute funding and was an award winner in Cinema du Reel’s works in progress earlier this year.
Contact: TS Productions

Luce (It)
Dirs. Silvia Luzi, Luca Bellino
The second narrative feature from Italian filmmaking duo Luzi and Bellino takes place in a cold and mountainous region of Italy, where a downtrodden woman makes an unhealthy choice. It explores the same relationship between women and power as did the pair’s 2017 Crater, which competed in Venice Critics’ Week and won the special jury prizes at Tokyo and Linz.
Contact: Fandango

Moon (Austria)
Dir. Kurdwin Ayub
Kurdish-Austrian filmmaker Ayub’s debut feature Sun (Sonne) won Berlinale Encounters’ best first feature award in 2022, and now her follow-up comes to Locarno. It stars Austrian choreographer and performance artist Florentina Holzinger as a former professional kickboxer from Vienna who finds herself in a sealed-off world when she becomes a personal trainer to a wealthy family in the Middle East. Moon, which is the second of a planned Sun, Moon and Stars trilogy, is produced by Ulrich Seidl Filmproduktion.
Contact:Ulrich Seidl Filmproduktion

New Dawn Fades (Turkey-It-Ger-Nor-Neth)
Dir. Gürcan Keltek
The second feature from Turkish filmmaker Keltek, New Dawn Fades is described as a drama about a man who loses touch with his true self, his mind shifting into another reality. Keltek’s feature debut Meteors was a prize winner on premiering at Locarno in 2013. New Dawn Fades has received funding support from, among others, Italy’s Ministry of Culture, the Norwegian Film Institute and the Berlinale’s World Cinema Fund.
Contact: Heretic

Salve Maria (Sp)
Dir. Mar Coll
Spanish director Coll won a best director prize at Catalonia’s Gaudi Awards for his 2009 debut Three Days With The Family, which he followed in 2013 with We All Want What’s Best For Her. His third feature Salve Maria is an adaptation of the novel Mothers Don’t by Katixa Aguirre, and follows a new parent who becomes obsessed with the disturbing case of a woman who drowned her infant twins. Coll penned the screenplay with regular co-writer Valentina Viso.
Contact: Be For Films

The Sparrow In The Chimney (Switz)
Dir. Ramon Zürcher
A family gathering reveals the increasing tension between two very different sisters in the latest work from Swiss writer/director Zürcher, who won Berlinale Encounters best director and Fipresci awards for The Girl And The Spider in 2021. Zürcher also serves as editor and sound designer on The Sparrow In The Chimney, which stars Maren Eggert (winner of a Berlinale 2021 Silver Bear for I’m Your Man) and Britta Hammelstein as the warring siblings. Filmcoopi Zürich will release the film in Switzerland.
Contact: Cercamon

Toxic (Lith)
Dir. Saule Bliuvaite
The debut feature of Lithuanian writer/director Bliuvaite, whose 2021 Limousine won best documentary short at Warsaw, Toxic follows two teenage girls who join an extreme local modelling school. Featuring a cast of non-actors, the film was selected for Les Arcs work-in-progress programme in 2023, and was also presented at the work-in-progress pitching session at Meeting Point Vilnius in March this year.
Contact: Bendita Film Sales

Transamazonia(Fr-Ger-Switz-Tai-Braz)
Dir. Pia Marais
South African filmmaker Marais made an impact with her first three features: her 2007 debut The Unpolishedwon Rotterdam’s Tiger Award, At Ellen’s Age competed at Locarno in 2010 and Layla Fourie picked up a special mention as part of the Berlinale’s Competition in 2013. Now she returns to Locarno with Transamazonia, which follows a young female healer who is the daughter of a missionary, deep in the Amazon jungle. Jour2fête will release in France, and cineworx in Switzerland.
Contact: The Party Film Sales

Weightless (It)
Dir. Sara Fgaier
Having worked as an editor and producer on films including Pietro Marcello’s The Mouth Of The Wolf and Lost And Beautiful, Fgaier makes her feature directing debut with this drama about a teacher struggling to cope with a form of amnesia that replaces the present with vivid memories of his past. The project was supported by TorinoFilmLab in 2022, via a TFL production award, and the film will be distributed in Italy by Luce Cinecitta.
Contact: Fulvio Firrito, Rai Cinema International Distribution

Youth (Hard Times) (Fr-Lux-Neth)
Dir. Wang Bing
Seven years after he won Locarno’s Golden Leopard for Mrs Fang in 2017, Wang is back in the festival’s International Competition with documentary Youth (Hard Times). The film is the second part of a planned trilogy following Youth (Spring), which played in Cannes Competition last year, and returns to follow the trials and tribulations of young workers in China’s textile factories. A third film, Youth (Homecoming), will follow the same protagonists.
Contact: Pyramide International

• Locarno special 2024: digital edition