The 78th edition of the upcoming Cannes Film Festival turns yellow and black. From Chile to Spain, from Italy to Egypt and Japan, new TFL titles are getting ready to premiere on the big screen at the prestigious French festival. Could we be more proud?
OFFICIAL COMPETITION – which for the first time ever includes 2 #TFLFILMS:
RENOIR by Chie Hayakawa (FeatureLab 2023, winner of the TFL Co-Production Award 50,000 euros, supported by Creative Europe MEDIA)
A quirky 11-year-old, her dying father and stressed mother thirst for human connections in Tokyo.
ROMERÍA by Carla Simón (TFL Next 2020 – with her previous TFL-developed project, Alcarràs, she won the Golden Bear at Berlinale 2022)
Marina, 18, orphaned at a young age, must travel to Spain’s Atlantic coast to obtain a signature for a scholarship application from the paternal grandparents she has never met. She navigates a sea of new aunts, uncles, and cousins, uncertain whether she will be embraced or met with resistance. Stirring long-buried emotions, reviving tenderness, and uncovering unspoken wounds tied to the past, Marina pieces together the fragmented and often contradictory memories of the parents she barely remembers.
Competing as well are two other features from alumni:
SIRAT by Oliver Laxe (who joined TFL in 2011 with his first film Mimosas, premiered at Cannes in 2016)
A father, accompanied by his son, goes looking for his missing daughter in North Africa.
ALPHA by Julia Ducournau (who realised her debut film Raw through the lab in 2013, premiered at Cannes in 2016)
Alpha, 13, is a troubled teenager who lives alone with her mother. Their world comes crashing down the day she comes home from school with a tattoo on her arm.
UN CERTAIN REGARD – 3 TFL debut features:
THE CARAVAN by Zuzana Kirchnerová (ScriptLab 2018 and FeatureLab 2020, winner of the Production Award 40,000 euros)
Ester (40) is a single mother of a mentally disabled son David. She only has one small dream: to spend two weeks in Italy at her old-time friend´s house without her son. At the last moment, the plans change and she has no other option than to take David with her.
THE MYSTERIOUS GAZE OF THE FLAMINGO by Diego Céspedes (FeatureLab 2020, winner of the Co-production Award 50,000 euros, supported by Creative Europe MEDIA)
1982. As an unknown disease begins to spread in a small mining town in the Chilean desert, gay men are accused of transmitting it through their eyes. Twelve-year-old Lidia, the only girl in the community, sets out in search of the truth.
AICHA CAN’T FLY AWAY by Morad Mostafa (Red Sea Lodge nel 2022)
The underworld of African migrant society in Cairo and the tension between the different groups as witnessed by Aisha, a Somali caregiver.
This news will be constantly updated to keep you informed about future selections and updates on TFL and alumni involved in the festival!
In the picture, a still from ROMERÍA.