Locarno Competition Title ‘Tengo Sueños Eléctricos’ Nabbed by Heretic (EXCLUSIVE)

Christopher Vourlias Paul Negoescu’s fourth feature, “Men of Deeds,” which world premieres in competition Sunday at the Sarajevo Film Festival, is at first glance a departure from the Romanian director’s previous work. Set in the rural region of Bucovina, it’s a world removed from the swanky bars and bistros of his last film, the Bucharest-set “The Story of a Summer Lover.”The film follows llie (Iulian Postelnicu), a small-town police chief who hopes to settle into a modest, comfortable life. A man of low expectations and dubious morals, he sets his sights on a small plot of land that’s up for sale — an orchard in the countryside where he imagines he can make a fresh start.Nothing, however, goes according to plan.

Zsuzsi Bánkuti Appointed Head Of Locarno’s Open Doors

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefThe Asian Project Market, the film financing event attached to the Busan festival’s Asian Contents & Film Market, will return this year as an in-person event. To increase the focus on regional projects it has selected 29 titles and excluded those from outside Asia.The APM will be held at the Busan Exhibition and Convention Center (BEXCO) and run Oct.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentTo the exuberant tones of Christophe’s “Aline,” lamenting the loss of his love, two shirtless men rejoice orgiastically as water tumbling down a rock face drenching their bodies. Meanwhile, at a country house, maids and a gardener, dressed in period costume, proudly pour what looks like a mixture of water and milk onto plants.The scenes, it seems, are from a libertine costume drama, being shot in the wooded French countryside. Then suddenly Valentin, the director, disappears.

Holly Jones Paris-based sales company Alief has swooped on international sales rights to horror-political thriller “Matadero” (“Slaughterhouse”), the awaited fiction feature debut of Argentina’s Santiago Fillol, co-scribe on Oliver Laxe’s Cannes winners “Mimosa” and “Fire Will Come.”Co-written by Fillol, “Matadero” world premieres this week in Locarno’s main International Competition.The film takes a stark look at a historic tale through the maniacal lens of U.S. filmmaker Jared (Julio Perillán), as he shoots a big-screen version of a 19th-century text by Argentine writer Estaban Echeverría, exploiting the times and their trappings to create a piece of cinema meant to dig itself into the collective consciousness.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorIn the mesmerizing and strangely beautiful documentary “Matter Out of Place,” which world premieres in International Competition at the Locarno Film Festival on Wednesday, Austrian director Nikolaus Geyrhalter looks at how we dispose of our trash. But, taking a broader view, he is trying to gain a better understanding of mankind, and the impact it is having on the planet, he tells Variety.The locations for the film are wide ranging: it moves from the mountains of Switzerland to the coasts of Greece and Albania, to an Austrian refuse incinerator, and then to Nepal and the Maldives, and finally to the deserts of Nevada for the Burning Man event.When choosing locations, sound was as much of a consideration as the images.

Locarno Film Festival, the film portraits an extended encounter between Herman (Jeb Berrier) and his son, Nate (Charlie Plummer). They grapple with their relationship against a vast landscape as they spend the day meandering across great meadows, trudging through a graveyard – navigating the intimate geographies of their own grief.

JD Linville Zurich native Caterina Mona will bring her directorial debut “Semret” to the 75th Locarno Film Festival where it screens at the city’s Piazza Grande, an outdoor venue traditionally reserved for more popular plays. The film, which is being sold by German sales outfit Pluto Film, follows the difficult path to healing for the titular character of Semret: a reclusive immigrant mother from Eritrea, now living and working in Zurich.

Wu-Tang Clan’s 1992 hit ‘Protect Ya Neck’.According to Scottish outlet The National, 25-year-old Kyle Siegel, who is white, was ordered to pay the fine – as well as an additional £20 “victim surcharge” – last week after a hearing in Lerwick Sheriff Court, during which he took full responsibility for the offence.It’s reported that Siegel, admitted he’d been acting in “a disorderly manner” when the incident occurred around 1am on Sunday February 20. Siegel was attending a birthday party at the Scalloway Boating Club, and supposedly wound up inside a cubicle in the female restroom, where his lawyer, Tommy Allan, says Siegel was “singing along to a TikTok on a friend’s phone”.Unbeknownst to Siegel, a woman of mixed race was in the cubicle next to him.

Coronation Street star Tanisha Gorey was quick to point out a problem with her own photo as she posed at home for the cute snap. The actress, who is known for playing Asha Alahan in the ITV soap, took to Instagram over the weekend and was soon flooded with compliments from her co-stars.

Marta Balaga Paris-based Tomsa Films will co-produce Andrei Epure’s first feature “Don’t Let Me Die.” The company, created in 2018, is also behind Laura Samani’s acclaimed Cannes Critics’ Week premiere “Small Body” and documentary “Zaho Zay.”“Don’t Let Me Die” follows the consequences of a woman’s death in front of her apartment building. Her neighbor, Maria, is interrogated by the police and eventually takes charge of the funeral.

Emiliano De Pablos Chinese sales agent Parallax Films has acquired international sales rights to Malaysian director Ming Jing Woo’s feature “Stone Turtle,” which world premieres in the Locarno Film Festival’s international competition.A time-traveling movie, “Stone Turtle” is produced by Edmund Yeo and Ming Jin Woo at Malaysia’s Greenlight Pictures and co-produced by Cheng Thim Kian and Yulia Evina Bhara at KawanKawan Media in Indonesia.The story follows Zahara, a stateless refugee who lives on a small remote island in Malaysia, where she makes a living selling turtle eggs.One day, Samad, claiming to be a university researcher, visits the island, wanting to employ Zahara to show him around. As the day goes on, Zahara and Samad become entangled in a dangerous dance of duplicity and deception.

EXCLUSIVE: Paris-based sales company Wide has acquired world sales rights to Angola-born Portuguese filmmaker Carlos Conceição’s Angolan War of Independence drama Tommy Guns, which made a well-received debut in Competition at the Locarno Film Festival on Friday.

Christopher Vourlias Heretic, the Athens-based boutique production company and sales agent, has acquired world sales rights for “Runner,” by director Marian Mathias, which will have its world premiere in the Discovery section of the Toronto International Film Festival.Already sparking upbeat word of mouth, “Runner” follows Haas (Hannah Schiller), an 18-year-old girl who was raised by her father in the rural Midwest. When her father suddenly dies, she must carry out his wish to be buried in the town where he was born.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentThere’s a new giant in town, or at least at Locarno’s Match Me!, one of the festival’s biggest industry initiatives.For years, by a large head, France has had more titles at the Locarno Festival’s two biggest sections, the Piazza Grande showcase and main International Competition than any other country in the world. 2022 is no exception.Unifrance also hosts the Festival’s biggest industry bash, a first Friday night sit-down dinner or party which used to take place at Locarno’s hillside Belvedere Hotel and has now moved to the near Maggiore Lake-side Blu Restaurant.Now, however, Unifrance, Europe’s biggest national film-TV promotion board, has put its weight behind Match Me!, a networking initiative this year bringing together 32 emerging producers from over the world.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorThe Locarno Film Festival’s artistic director, Giona A. Nazzaro, has rejected calls to ban Leon Prudovsky’s “My Neighbor, Adolf,” which world premieres Aug. 4 in Locarno’s Piazza Grande, after a controversy was sparked regarding its funding.

Naman Ramachandran Acclaimed filmmaker Mahesh Narayanan and popular actor-producer Kunchacko Boban are re-teaming for “Ariyippu” (“Declaration”), the first Indian film in Locarno’s international competition in 17 years.The Malayalam-language film follows Hareesh (Boban) and Reshmi (Divya Prabha), an immigrant couple from Kerala working in a medical gloves factory near Delhi, who aspire to go abroad for a better life. During the COVID-19 lockdowns, when an old video resurfaces among the factory workers, it opens up a Pandora’s box that threatens the couple’s jobs and marriage.Narayanan got the germ of the film’s idea from a newspaper article about a female bank employee who had approached the Mumbai high court demanding a “declaration” clarifying that a video which had been circulated in her bank was a look alike and not her.

Demi Lovato fans have a theory about one of their new songs.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentThe Locarno Film Festival’s StepIN think tank on the state of the indie film industry is set to take the pulse of the theatrical landscape, the flow of production, how film festivals and markets are faring and where things stand on gender equality and social impact.After a taking a break last year from its strictly business focus to zero in mainly on mental health and envisioning a more humane work environment, the Swiss fest’s unique initiative is back to delving into the industry’s most pressing operational issues and what lies ahead.“Now that the worst moments of the global pandemic seem behind us — and after a Cannes Film Festival in full gear — the film industry is questioning its future,” said StepIN project manager Marcello Paolillo, who is an Italian producer. As Paolillo puts it in his introduction, the basic overarching theme at StepIN is “Putting The Pieces Together in a Post-Pandemic Puzzle.”Now in its tenth year, StepIN is an interdisciplinary and international think tank, where some fifty European and international invited industry players — distributors, exhibitors, producers, sales agents, film institutions, financiers, streaming platforms, broadcasters, and film festival and markets reps — participate in closed working sessions to exchange thoughts on practices and business models and propose new ideas and strategies.The day-long event on Aug.