For its bidecennial anniversary, Giornate says it is leaving “its adolescence behind”, with a 10-strong competition lineup, special events and recognisable international stars. Milanese filmmaker Tommaso Santambrogio kicks off proceedings with Cuba‑set Oceans Are The Real Continents (Fandango Sales), which tells three entwined stories in black and white.
Elise Girard’s Sidonie In Japan (Indie Sales) sees Isabelle Huppert play an author who, while mourning her late husband, begins an affair with her Japanese publisher. Japan is also in focus in Kyoshi Sugita’s Following The Sound (Iha Films), about a bookstore clerk reuniting with the person he stopped from jumping in front of a train. Chong Keat Aun’s Malaysia-Taiwan-Singapore co-pro Snow In Midsummer (Swallow Wings) centres on two people trapped in a different timeline for 49 years.
Europe is well-represented, through Stefanie Kolk’s Dutch drama Melk from producers Lemming Film; Delphine Girard’s Belgium-Canada-France co-pro Through The Night (Playtime), starring Veerle Baetens; Zacharias Mavroeidis’s Greek feature The Summer With Carmen (Be For Films), about two friends at an Athens queer beach crafting a screenplay; and Spanish filmmaker Victor Iriarte’s Foremost By Night (Alpha Violet), about a woman who has never stopped looking for the son she gave up for adoption.
Former Arab Film Festival director and current Doha Film Institute head of grants Khalil Benkirane retakes the director’s chair, alongside Afef Ben Mahmoud, who also stars in Backstage, a drama about a Moroccan dance company. Perhaps the most eye-catching title is Ariane Louis-Seize’s Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person (h264), a comedy about a young bloodsucker too sensitive for the role.
The out-of-competition titles include Ayat Najafi’s The Sun Will Rise, a documentary set around a theatre ensemble caught in the uprising in Tehran, Iran last year. Succession may be over but Lina Soualem’s Bye Bye Tiberias (Lightdox) provides insight into the life of one of its stars, actress Hiam Abbass.
Italian interests include Edoardo Morabito’s The Outpost (Intramovies) about Scottish eco-warrior Christopher Clark; Gianluca Matarrese’s The Zola Experience (Syndicado) about the blurring of life and fantasy in a stage production of The Dram Shop; and short This Is How A Child Becomes A Poet, a France-Italy co-pro from 2022 Giornate jury president Céline Sciamma.
The section will close with Austin Stark and Joseph Schuman’s out-of-competition Coup! (Film Constellation) starring Peter Sarsgaard, in which a rebellious servant leads a revolt against his employer during the 1918 Spanish flu.
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