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Locarno Film Festival · 2024

Locarno Film Festival 2024

Concorso Internazionale

Programme

22 films · 7 reviews

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Agora

A film about the human inability to overcome the unresolved problems of a shared past. It is also a point of view that can be the dream and/or nightmare of two animals observing human stupidity.

(Country: Tunisia, France, Saudi Arabia, Qatar; Year: 2024; Director: Ala Eddine Slim; Writer: Ala Eddine Slim; Stars: Neji Kanaweti, Bilel Slatnia, Majd Mastoura, Sonia Zarg Ayouna)

Akiplesa

Dreaming of escape from the bleakness of their industrial hometown, two 13-year-olds, Marija and Kristina, form a unique bond at a local modeling school, where the promise of a better life pushes girls to violate their bodies in increasingly extreme ways.

(Country: Lithuania; Year: 2024; Director: Saulė Bliuvaitė; Writer: Saulė Bliuvaitė; Stars: Vesta Matulytė, Ieva Rupeikaitė, Giedrius Savickas, Vilma Raubaitė, Eglė Gabrėnaitė)

B(l)ind The Sacrifice

Review preview for B(l)ind The Sacrifice

There's ambition here that suggests this is the fragment of a feature that Nakhane has in mind.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
A father's faith could fracture his nomadic family.

(Country: South Africa; Year: 2024; Director: Nakhane; Writer: Nakhane; Stars: Sihle Shona Mnqwazana, Nandi Nyembe, Treasure Nkosi)

Full review

Bogancloch

Review preview for Bogancloch

If it wasn’t for the excellent, immersive sound design from Chu-Li Shewring, you could easily believe you were watching a piece of silent movie found footage.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Documentary sequel about a former sailor and his off-the-grid life.

(Country: UK, Germany, Iceland; Year: 2024; Director: Ben Rivers; Stars: Jake Williams)

Full review See: Interview with Ben Rivers about Bogancloch

Cent Mille Milliards

They stayed up all night talking in Julia's room. She told him about palaces, castles, diamonds, and all the gold she'd seen. She told him what happened after death. Afine listened without saying a word, dazzled by all these things he'd never heard of.

(Country: France; Year: 2024; Director: Virgil Vernier; Writer: Virgil Vernier, Benjamin Klintoe; Stars: Zakaria Bouti, Victoire Song, Mina Gajovic)

Death Will Come (La Mort Viendra)

Tez kills for money. Charles Mahr, a legendary gangster, hires her to avenge the murder of one of his couriers. Once in Brussels, she gets caught up in the thicket of an intrigue in which she herself becomes the prey. Tez has to decide whose instrument she wants to be.

(Country: Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium; Year: 2024; Director: Christoph Hochhäusler; Writer: Christoph Hochhäusler, Ulrich Peltzer; Stars: Sophie Verbeeck, Louis-Do de Lencquesaing, Marc Limpach, Mourade Zeguendi, Hilde Van Mieghem)

Drowning Dry (Seses)

Review preview for Drowning Dry

By withholding information from us, Bareisa puts us in a similar headspace to the main characters.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
Two familes try to cope with trauma after a weekend getaway turns sour.

(Country: Lithuania, Latvia; Year: 2024; Director: Laurynas Bareisa; Writer: Laurynas Bareisa; Stars: Gelmine Glemzaite, Karolis Kasperavicius, Paulius Markevicius, Giedrius Kiela, Agne Kaktaite)

Full review See: Laurynas Bareisa on relationship dynamics in award-winning drama Drowning Dry

Fire Of Wind (Fogo Do Vento)

Soraia, a young girl, cuts herself. Blood mixes with wine. A black bull is on the loose. Up in the oak trees, time swells, and a community takes shelter.

(Country: Portugal, Switzerland, France; Year: 2024; Director: Marta Mateus; Writer: Marta Mateus; Stars: Soraia Prudêncio, Maria Catarina Sapata, Safir Eizner, José Moura, Maria Clara Madeira)

Green Line

Fida grew up during the war in Beirut in the 1980s, immersed in the 'red hell' her grandmother used to tell her about. The trivialisation of death made her doubt the value of life and the meaning of this never-ending war that was so similar to so many others. Using miniature figures and models, she meets the militiamen and confronts her childhood vision with theirs.

(Country: France, Lebanon, Qatar; Year: 2024; Director: Sylvie Ballyot; Writer: Sylvie Ballyot, Fida Bizri)

Luce

The girl is in her early twenties, working with leathers and with an obsession drumming in her head. One winter day, she's on a beach and is gripped by a sudden idea. From that moment on, her life becomes someone else's life. A drone and a cell phone will be her unwholesome choice, and her recitation.

(Country: Italy; Year: 2024; Director: Silvia Luzi, Luca Bellino; Writer: Silvia Luzi, Luca Bellino; Stars: Marianna Fontana)

Mexico 86

Review preview for Mexico 86

Diaz has drawn partially on his relationship with his own mother and the specificity of place and time also help the tensions to feel authentic.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A woman tries to juggle being a revolutionary with motherhood.

(Country: Belgium, France; Year: 2024; Director: César Díaz; Writer: César Díaz; Stars: Bérénice Béjo, Matheo Labbé, Leonardo Ortizgris, Julieta Egurrola)

Full review See: César Díaz on bringing Mexico 86, his personal tale of revolution and maternal instinct, to the screen , Bérénice Bejo on why Mexico 86 is close to her heart

Mond

Former martial artist Sarah leaves Austria to train three sisters from a wealthy Jordanian family. What initially sounds like a dream job soon becomes unsettling: the young women are cut off from the outside world and under constant surveillance. The sport doesn’t seem to interest them. So why has Sarah been hired?

(Country: Austria; Year: 2024; Director: Kurdwin Ayub; Writer: Kurdwin Ayub; Stars: Florentina Holzinger, Andria Tayeh, Celina Antwan, Nagham Abu Baker)

Salve Maria

Maria, a promising young writer and new mother, stumbles upon a chilling headline: a French woman has drowned her 10-month-old twins in the bathtub. The gruesome act seizes Maria's imagination, becoming an obsession.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2024; Director: Mar Coll; Writer: Mar Coll, Valentina Viso; Stars: Laura Weissmahr, Oriol Pla)

Seses

Together with her sister Juste's family, Ernesta, her husband Lukas, and her son are spending the weekend at a country house after Lukas's victory in a mixed martial arts tournament. The families are swimming in a nearby lake, having dinner, discussing family finances. After a near-tragic accident, the sisters become single mothers.

(Country: Lithuania, Latvia; Year: 2024; Director: Laurynas Bareiša; Stars: Gelminė Glemžaitė, Agnė Kaktaitė, Giedrius Kiela, Paulius Markevičius)

The Sparrow In The Chimney (Der Spatz Im Kamin)

Review preview for The Sparrow In The Chimney

As Zürcher explores his protagonist's psyche, straining the limits of a pervasive sense of turbulence, he steers the narrative into a dream-like realm of refreshing sincerity.

Sergiu Inizian · 2.5 out of 5
A family gathering is triggering for everyone.

(Country: Switzerland; Year: 2024; Director: Ramon Zürcher; Writer: Ramon Zürcher; Stars: Maren Eggert, Britta Hammelstein, Luise Heyer, Andreas Döhler, Lea Zoe Voss, Milian Zerzawy, Ilja Bultmann, Paula Schindler, Luana Greco)

Full review See: Metamorphoses in The Sparrow In The Chimney

Sulla Terra Leggeri

Gian fights the darkness caused by sudden amnesia. Miriam, the daughter he does not recognise, gives him a diary he wrote in his twenties, revolving around Leila, a girl with whom he discovered love over the course of one night.

(Country: Italy; Year: 2024; Director: Sara Fgaier; Writer: Sara Fgaier, Sabrina Cusano, Maurizio Buquicchio; Stars: Andrea Renzi, Sara Serraiocco, Emilio Francis Scarpa, Lise Lomi, Maria Fernanda Cândido, Stefano Rossi Giordani, Amira Chebli, Elyas Turki)

Suyoocheon

A lecturer named Jeonim asks her uncle to direct a theatrical skit put on by her school department. Each day, Jeonim goes to a nearby stream to sketch and try to grasp its patterns. Her uncle decides to direct the skit because of his memories directing one at this same university, 40 years earlier. A scandalous incident arises among the students, and Jeonim and her uncle end up getting involved.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2024; Director: Hong Sangsoo; Writer: Hong Sangsoo; Stars: Kim Minhee, Kwon Haehyo, Cho Yunhee)

Toxic

Review preview for Toxic

The imagery is almost dream-like, feverish and intense without straying away from reality.

Andy Stoeva · 4 out of 5
Two teenage girls, eager to escape from the bleakness of their industrial town, form an unexpected bond at a local modelling school that pushes their bodies to the limit.

(Country: Lithuania; Year: 2024; Director: Saulė Bliuvaitė; Writer: Saulė Bliuvaitė; Stars: Vesta Matulytė, Eglė Gabrėnaitė, Ieva Rupeikaitė, Giedrius Savickas)

Full review See: Saulė Bliuvaitė on developing and shooting Golden Leopard winner Toxic

Transamazonia

Rebecca, the daughter of a missionary, was declared a 'miracle' after she survived a plane crash as a child, deep in the Amazon jungle. Years later, she has become a miracle healer, sustaining their mission thanks to her fame. But when illegal loggers invade the land belonging to the indigenous people they evangelise to, her father manoeuvres them into the centre of this escalating conflict.

(Country: France, Germany, Switzerland, Taiwan, Brazil; Year: 2024; Director: Pia Marais; Writer: Pia Marais, Willem Droste; Stars: Helena Zengel, Jeremy Xido, Sabine Timoteo, Hamã Luciano, Rômulo Braga, Philipp Lavra, Sérgio Sartório, Iwinaiwa Assurini, Pirá Assurini, João Victor Xavante, Kamya Assurini)

Weightless

Review preview for Weightless

Like the protagonist we are swept up by a wave of questions about aviation and identity and the unbearable heaviness of memory.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 4.5 out of 5
A grief-stricken amnesiac tries to regain his memory.

(Country: Italy; Year: 2024; Director: Sara Fgaier; Writer: Sara Fgaier, Sabrina Cusano, Maurizio Buquicchio; Stars: Amira Chebli, Maria Fernanda Cândido, Lise Lomi, Andrea Renzi, Stefano Rossi Giordani, Emilio Scarpa, Sara Serraiocco, Elyas Turki)

Full review

Yeni Safak Solarken

Akin has been in and out of the hospital, stuck in the system for years. He no longer leaves his family's house except for occasional visits to religious monuments in Istanbul. Trying to find refuge in God, he falls into a state of ecstasy. The divine structures trigger something in him. As he loses touch with his true self, his mind shifts into another reality.

(Country: Turkey, Italy, Germany, Norway, Netherlands; Year: 2024; Director: Gürcan Keltek; Writer: Gürcan Keltek; Stars: Cem Yigit Üzümoglu, Ayla Algan, Erol Babaoglu, Suzan Kardes, Dilan Düzgüner, Gürkan Gedikli)

Youth (Hard Times) (Qing Chun (Ku))

Individual and collective stories unfold in Zhili's textile workshops, becoming more dramatic as the seasons go by. From atop a passageway, workers watch their boss beat up a supplier. In another workshop, the boss has taken off with all the money.

(Country: France, Luxembourg, Netherlands; Year: 2024; Director: Wang Bing; Writer: Wang Bing)