Latest news with #GabrielMascaro
Broadcast Pro
12-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Broadcast Pro
CineMart calls for project submissions for 43rd edition
The upcoming edition will mark the introduction of CineMart x HBF, a new official strand spotlighting Hubert Bals Fund-supported projects. CineMart, the co-production market of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), has opened project submissions for its 43rd edition, which will be held during the 55th IFFR from January 29 to February 8, 2026. The upcoming edition will debut a new strand titled CineMart x HBF, designed to highlight projects supported by the Hubert Bals Fund (HBF), further reinforcing the festival's commitment to fostering original storytelling and nurturing emerging talent. As CineMart continues to evolve and expand, applicants are encouraged to note changes to the submission process. This includes a tiered fee structure aimed at accommodating the growing volume of entries and the resources required to evaluate them. The standard and late submission deadlines are set for August 21 and August 27, respectively. Priority will be given to projects making their first market presentation at Rotterdam, emphasising the market's role as a launchpad for bold new voices in cinema. The CineMart x HBF initiative seeks to strengthen the relationship between IFFR's funding and market activities, offering an integrated path for previously supported HBF projects. Recent successes such as Gabriel Mascaro's The Blue Trail and Payal Kapadia's All We Imagine as Light underscore the potential impact of this synergy, both having benefited from HBF support and CineMart exposure en route to international acclaim. CineMart 2026 will also continue to embrace immersive media storytelling, inviting submissions from projects in development that seek funding or co-production partners. Recent immersive works presented at CineMart have gone on to receive international recognition, including Duchampiana by Lilian Hess and The World Came Flooding In by Isobel Knowles and Van Sowerwine. Project teams that have previously received Hubert Bals Fund support are encouraged to contact CineMart directly for tailored guidance on how to apply. The 2026 edition aims to deliver a tightly curated selection of standout projects, offering a platform for artistic innovation and global collaboration at a critical stage of development.
Yahoo
04-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘The Blue Trail' Director on His 'Boat Movie' About a Rebellious Granny That Is an 'Ode to Freedom'
The Blue Trail, the latest movie from Brazilian filmmaker Gabriel Mascaro (Neon Bull, Divine Love, August Winds), takes viewers into a magical but also political Amazon in a near-future dystopia. The film, which won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize at Berlin this year, is one of the highlights from the recent festival circuit that is screening in the Horizons program of the 59th edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF), starting on Friday. More from The Hollywood Reporter The Summer of Sarah Niles: 'F1' Star on the "Theater" of Racing and Tom Cruise's Reaction: He Was "on the Edge of His Seat" 'Squid Game' Star Yim Si-Wan on Learning to "Love the Hate" Fans Feel for His Character Bob Vylan Dropped From Europe Music Festivals in Wake of "Death to the IDF" Controversy 'In order for Brazil to develop economically, the country gives priority to its younger generations, while older people are put away in government colonies so they will not 'get in the way,'' reads a synopsis. The 77-year-old Tereza, however, refuses and decides to escape. That sets the stage for a movie that puts older women in the spotlight in ways rarely seen. Denise Weinberg stars as Tereza, along with Miriam Socarras and Rodrigo Santoro. 'What's remarkable about The Blue Trail and makes it such a delight is that despite all the oppression in the air, it's a movie filled with hope and faith in human resilience at any age,' THR's review highlighted. THR asked Mascaro about his inspirations for The Blue Trail, what went into creating an autocratic state and its slogans, the movie's religious and sexual undertones and what's next for me a bit about why you set the film in a dystopian near-future Brazil? And how universal are the themes of the film in your view? In every family, we have an aging relative, so it has been very special to see the film resonate so strongly at all the festivals where it has screened. There are very few films with elderly protagonists. The movies we see in general often focus on older characters left behind in a world that is moving on without them, portraying aging as a period of painful isolation or physical decline. In many cases, the past becomes a driving force in these stories, motivating the protagonist to seek a final purpose, perhaps to allow them to die in peace. These stories often carry an undercurrent of nostalgia and inevitability, where death unconsciously shapes the narrative's tension. Growing up, I lived in a house with many people, and my grandparents were always in my life. My grandmother learned to paint at 80 years old, after my grandfather's death, and seeing things like this changed my perspective on aging. It showed me how the elderly can become protagonists of their own self-discovery and make significant changes, even impressive or astonishing ones. In my film, I wanted to explore a different perspective. My approach proposes a journey, with elements of adventure and fantasy, and reconnecting with one's desire to be free. It's a 'boat movie' about aging and dreaming, with older women taking center stage. The Blue Trail is a film about the right to dream, featuring an older protagonist who decides not to accept the fate that someone else, in this case, the state, has traced for her. I wanted to make a film that serves as an ode to freedom, showcasing a rebellious septuagenarian, dealing with her imminent seclusion in a senior colony, and signaling it is never too late to find new meaning in life. How close do you feel we are to this social and political future, given all the things going on in Brazil and the world? I think the strength of the film is in capturing an imaginary [world] — how the elderly are framed within a society governed by the logic of productivity. And this society with these values is one we are already living in today. I just created a light distortion of reality through a playful allegory. More than anticipating the future, what's unusual about the film is the feeling that everything we see in it could already be real. This film is set in a society obsessed with productivity, where older citizens are invited to exile themselves from the rest of the community upon reaching a certain age. I see it as a near-dystopian, yet simultaneously inspiring, fable about Tereza, a 77-year-old woman whose time to 'go away' has just arrived. Refusing to accept this 'social euthanasia,' Tereza embarks on a journey in search of freedom and a long-held dream. Her journey truly begins when she runs away on a boat that will take her deep into the Amazon, and deep into her own soul. I found the slogan 'The future is for everyone' that the state in the film uses quite scary. What was your thinking behind that? I wanted to build a state that, instead of a caricature of a villain, has an 'elegant' way of trying to sell the idea that it is doing something noble. I chose to create a cunning autocratic state that profanes euphemism and publicly celebrates the elderly while simultaneously alienating their bodies. Why did you want to address aging, especially aging with dignity and as a woman in an economy-focused society, as well as freedom, as themes now? I think The Blue Trail indirectly addresses a lot of serious and delicate contemporary issues, especially related to the forced displacement of people, groups, or ethnicities from their homes in the name of a state project. It's about the elderly being removed from society, but it also resonates with so many other groups of people. From gentrification, to the removal of indigenous communities from their lands for economic exploitation, to wars waged for territorial gain while wealthy countries profit from arms sales, the treatment of refugees and immigrants forced to leave their countries due to conflicts or oppression. Above all, I wanted to make a film that was passionate about the presence and the possibilities of our drive for life. A film about the character of a woman — a mother, grandmother, older, yet still not confined to a fixed identity. Tereza embodies the desire to live out this journey, the willingness to try on new identities and experience new things in a unique, original, and undogmatic way. I find that it is unusual to see elderly protagonists in cinema, especially in dystopias, fantasies and also in anything resembling a 'coming-of-age' drama. Genre conventions in cinema are powerful tools for storytelling, but they can be oppressive to storytellers as well. It often seems as though rebellion against the system is something reserved for the young. Like the quest for maturity, understanding and finding your place in the world, should be rites of passage meant only for high school students or people not much older. I hope it is a film that plays with genres in a fun way. Instead of adhering to a single genre, I wanted to create an interaction between the lyrical and the playful in a sort of post-tropical delirium that challenges some of these rigid lines. How important are religious and sexual undertones for you in general and particularly this film and why? More than talking about 'futurism,' when we speak of dystopia, my interest lies in imagining and speculating about changes in behavior. So naturally, themes like desire, eroticism and religion emerge as tools to think about the tensions of my characters within the film's world. There doesn't need to be a flying car on screen to create a displacement of space and time. Cultural or behavioral changes can signal a dystopia even more radically than a technology or a gadget. The challenge here was to think about a hypothetical world unique and singular to the world of the film – neither past, present nor future. In The Blue Trail, the protagonist begins the film as a conservative, pro-system, averse to the idea of hallucinogens, but gradually changes how she perceives and feels the world. It was important for me to create the arc of an elderly woman who discovers the taste of freedom throughout her journey in the film. Deep down, she just wanted to take a plane ride, but ends up learning to fly much higher than she ever imagined possible. Can you share some of your influences in cinema and in terms of directors? I got magic realism vibes, among others… I think Chris Marker (La Jetée) showed me how it's possible to fabricate worlds and shift realities without needing big devices. I learned from Claire Denis (Beau Travail) how to look at bodies. Jia Zhangke (A Touch of Sin) resonates in my work as a filmmaker who pays attention to space and landscape transformation. My research blends references but also different genres. Playfully engaging with genre is an important part of my work, exploring possible cracks, and the potential they reveal, within the narrative tradition. I have a special affection for cinema that makes speculations of reality from fantastical notions, but that could still be real. How did you come up with the funny but at the same time scary word 'wrinkle wagon' that we hear in the film? I did iconographic research on vehicles used to collect stray dogs. These vehicles marked the imagination of generations. So I tried to reframe this idea into a vehicle dedicated to collecting dissident elderly people on the streets. People popularly call the vehicle the 'wrinkle wagon,' although its official name is 'Citizen Police.' Having an alternative nickname adds a special flavor to the world-building, giving the film additional layers. I told someone that I just saw a movie about an older woman who goes on an epic journey in a country focused on economic growth.' His reaction was: 'Which country?!' When I said Brazil, he seemed surprised… It's curious that the Amazon, as consumed in cinema and TV outside of Brazil, is still so idealized. I wanted to challenge this romanticized, skewed representation we often see when it's about conservation. The film takes us into an Amazon that is simultaneously magical and industrial, almost surreal, and deeply political. The story speculates about a political system marked by tropical populist, developmental fascism, placing the Amazon not in the idealized space of 'the lungs of the world,' but as the region at the heart of the planet's contradictions. I see the Amazon as a character with its own life, laden with its own complexities. I faced the challenge of redefining the idealization of Amazonian fauna. Thus, the viewer will be confronted with an unusual industrial-scale meat-processing factory for alligator meat and a betting house featuring fish fighting rings. The premise was to accentuate how large-scale capital and pop culture have appropriated the imagery of the region where the film is set. The film also dedicates a special place to an enchanted snail that emits a blue slime with magical powers to open paths and see the future. The snail signals a poetic contradiction that can be associated with old age as well: slow in movement but infinite in possibilities. The blue slime snail leaves a blue trail wherever it goes, as if planting a seed for a new future. What's next for you? Any new projects? I'm beginning to develop some new ideas while also staying open to falling in love with a screenplay that someone who admires my work might bring to me. Best of The Hollywood Reporter The 40 Best Films About the Immigrant Experience Wes Anderson's Movies Ranked From Worst to Best 13 of Tom Cruise's Most Jaw-Dropping Stunts
ABC News
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- ABC News
Beating Hearts, Universal Language, The Blue Trail
French director Gilles Lellouche on Beating Hearts, a genre-spanning romantic epic starring Adèle Exarchopoulos (Blue is the Warmest Colour) that follows a written-in-the-stars infatuation tested by social boundaries. Canadian filmmaker Matthew Rankin discusses his multi-award winning Universal a surreal interzone between Tehran and Winnipeg, the lives of several characters intertwine in unexpected ways. 2025 Berlinale Grand Jury Prize winner The Blue Trail sees a remarkable woman try to evade a dystopian fate via a grand Amazonian quest. Ahead of Sydney Film Festival screenings, Jason sits down with Brazilian director Gabriel Mascaro.
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Brazilian Comeback: How The Cannes 2025 Country Of Honor Is Following The Success Of ‘I'm Still Here'
The scenes of celebration across Brazil in Carnival season when Walter Salles' I'm Still Here won the Best International Feature Film Oscar in March were akin to the country winning the World Cup. The excitement followed a post-pandemic record-breaking $35.6 million box office in Brazil for the drama starring Fernanda Torres as real-life figure Eunice Paiva, whose husband Rubens Paiva disappeared from their home in the early years of Brazil's 1964-85 military dictatorship. More from Deadline Scarlett Johansson On Why The Script For Her Directorial Debut 'Eleanor The Great' Made Her Cry: 'It's About Forgiveness' – Cannes Cover Story Neon's Palme D'Or Whisperer Tom Quinn Reveals Keys To Cannes And Oscar Success: 'I'm Happy To Share A Playbook' As Tom Cruise Brings 'Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning' To Cannes, All Five Franchise Directors Look Back At The Wild Ride 'That explosion of joy in the middle of the Carnival, which is the peak of our popular culture and the best of Brazil, the best of our collective capacity to actually say who we are, was extraordinary,' says Salles. The victory came hot on the heels of the Berlinale Grand Jury Prize win for Brazilian filmmaker and visual artist Gabriel Mascaro's The Blue Trail, a dystopian drama about a 77-year-old retiree's life-changing journey through the Amazon rainforest. Three months later, Brazil is out in force at the Cannes Film Festival with the selection of Kleber Mendonça Filho's political thriller The Secret Agent starring Mauro Wagner in the main competition. It is also the Country of Honor at the Cannes Marché du Film, with a delegation of film professionals expected on the Croisette, led by Minister of Culture Margareth Menezes, who also happens to be the queen of Brazilian Afropop. Elsewhere on the Croisette, Marianna Brennand, whose female-driven drama Manas earned the Director's Award in Venice's parallel section Giornate degli Autori in 2024, is being feted with the Women in Motion Emerging Talent Award. 'It's not just a coincidence, it's an astral connection,' jokes André Sturm, founder and president of promotional body Cinema Do Brasil, on the market honor. 'We were first offered the honor by the market two years ago… We didn't know about the Walter Salles movie. We couldn't have imagined the success,' he explains. The acceptance of the offer was spurred rather by left-wing Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's promise on his arrival in power in October 2022 to bolster the cultural sector. Aside from his ideological belief in the importance of culture, Lula also wants to make it a key part of the economy and job creation, particularly for younger generations. 'Audiovisual production is the strength of our cultural sector,' Menezes says. 'Despite political persecution and a lack of robust investment, the technical quality and talent of the sector's artistic community are undeniable.' Under this drive, $295 million has been earmarked for the film and TV sector to date. Lula's investment plans are astute. According to the national cinema agency Ancine, the audiovisual sector added $5 billion to GDP in 2023, and this figure is set to rise. The drive also makes Brazil an outlier in Latin America, where many other territories are slashing cultural budgets and censorship is on the rise. The most acute example is Argentina, where the far-right President Javier Milei has decimated the film sector. Brazil's cinema industry is recovering from its own brush with populism and authoritarianism under the 2019-2022 rule of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro. During his time in power, which coincided with the pandemic, Bolsonaro disbanded the Ministry of Culture, cut cinema funding, and censored publicly funded projects. Menezes describes the federal government's $295 million investment as a 'rescue operation for the sector' following years of Bolsonaro's cuts. 'When we arrived, we found a wasteland of investments, a true chaos that was not easy to build,' the Minister says. Producer Tatiana Leite moved to France during Covid, 'exactly because of the lack of everything during the Bolsonaro government.' 'I could not work,' says the producer. She is now co-producing the latest feature from Portuguese auteur Miguel Gomes (Grand Tour), which will be a big-budget historical drama set to shoot next year in Brazil, and developing projects from newcomers Pedro Pinho (The Nothing Factory) and Pedro Freire (Malu). Cinema do Brasil also lost most of its funding for four years but stayed afloat by piecing together financing from a variety of other sources. 'People understood the importance of what we do… after the pandemic, our booths at Cannes and Berlin looked like a Formula 1 driver's jersey. We had many different small supporters who helped us continue our work,' says Sturm. Veteran producer Rodrigo Teixeira suggests the Bolsonaro years were a blip in an otherwise upward trajectory for Brazilian cinema going back 25 years. 'It all really started when Central Station opened the Berlin Film Festival. From then until today, there have been a lot of great filmmakers, investment by the state, tax incentives, international partnerships, and people winning prizes outside of Brazil,' he says, who has half a dozen projects on the boil including Gabe Klinger's Isabel. 2019 was a bumper year for Brazilian cinema. Juliano Dornelles and Kleber Mendonça Filho's Bacurau won the Cannes Jury Prize, while Karim Aïnouz's The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão clinched the Un Certain Regard award. At Venice, two Brazilian directors, Bárbara Paz and Ricardo Laganaro, won awards, and in San Sebastián, the Brazil-set drama Pacified, backed by Darren Aronofsky, won the top film prize. 'Bolsonaro in power combined with the pandemic killed the industry for two or three years, but we are lucky enough to have great projects, filmmakers, producers, crews, writers and stories, and we've started working again,' says Teixeira. It is too soon to assess whether Lula's audiovisual investments are bearing fruit. So far, the government has prioritized broad investments, like pushing cash into regions of the country that do not have a tradition of filmmaking. Only a portion is being used directly to fund or support projects that will ultimately land in the marketplace. 'It's a matter of public policy. But an important part of this money will arrive in the industry, so there is excitement,' Sturm says. There is currently an open call in the country for producers and filmmakers to submit projects for public funding, which has ignited a frenzy in the local industry. 'The last call attracted something like 1,200 applications for a national grant that will pick only a few projects, so it's very competitive,' Leite says. 'But at least we have this. Under Bolsonaro, we didn't have anything.' São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro remain Brazil's central hubs for film production. Salles' I'm Still Here was shot entirely in the latter, which Leonardo Edde, president of RioFilme, says reinforces the city's reputation as the 'birthplace of Brazilian cinema.' 'In 2024 alone, we registered nearly 9,000 shooting days, making us the most filmed city in Latin America,' Edde says. Lula has also spearheaded a decentralized approach to local production, opening autonomous film offices with their own funds in each of the country's 27 states. The Secret Agent, for example, is shot in the director's home city of Recife, capital of the northeastern state of Pernambuco, which is also home to a growing cinema scene. 'That is huge in a country with many realities like Brazil,' Liete says. Still, funding projects and supporting local infrastructure is only part of the equation. When these films are made, where will they find their audience? Leite argues that this is where the picture becomes less clear, suggesting that bottlenecks in the distribution chain are also holding local cinema up. 'One of the biggest fragilities of our cinema is that we don't have many independent distribution companies. We don't have any incentives for distribution companies either. They have to fight hard to still exist,' Leite says. 'For our population, we also don't have enough movie theaters.' As of last year, Ancine listed 3,510 operational cinema screens in Brazil. The country has a population of around 211 million. In comparison, the UK, with a population of around 68 million, has 4,587 screens. In the backdrop, there are also questions around the impact on independent producers and the box office of the global streamers, with two bills currently passing through the legislature that would increase tax contributions and introduce quotas on national productions. Menezes says streaming regulation is an imperative that her office is broaching with great care to protect workers' rights and the health of the local production environment. 'It is good for those who produce, for those who finance, and for those who consume. We don't want to tax anything; we want what is fair,' she says. In the meantime, local streamer Globoplay recently embraced a theatrical strategy for its first two feature originals, I'm Still Here and Andrucha Waddington and Breno Silveira's Vitória, giving them long cinema windows. Tatiana Costa, director of content for digital products at Globo, says the strategy was coordinated with all the parties on the film with the group promoting the theatrical release across all its platforms. 'We don't want to cannibalize the cinema and vice-versa,' she says. Commenting on the government's film and TV drive, Globoplay Originals head of drama Alex Medeiros says it goes beyond direct subsidies, noting how a raising of the cap on state money that can be spent on an individual production had also been a game changer. Teixeira also believes the global spotlight placed on Brazilian cinema by I'm Still Here will encourage more international investment. He is also predicting an uptick in non-Brazilian directors coming to the country to shoot, especially out of the U.S., in the current political climate. 'I was talking to an American filmmaker who told me it's impossible for independent filmmakers to do films in the U.S. right now, because the costs are too high, and the streamers are aligned with Donald Trump… There could be options for those filmmakers here in Brazil,' he suggests. Brazil does not currently offer a nationwide incentive, but there are a number of state- and city-based rebate schemes, notably those run by SPcine in São Paulo and RioFilme in Rio de Janeiro. In the backdrop to this positive wave, the spectre of Bolsonaro as well as that of the military junta captured in I'm Still Here remains in the air. While Bolsonaro failed to kill off Brazilian cinema, the former stopped the country's Cinema Nova in its tracks, leaving a void that would not be filled again until the 1990s and early '00s with films like Central Station and City of God. 'Continuity is at the core of what will ensue, but we're certainly living in a moment of vitality,' says Salles. Edde describes the current moment as 'a new era for the Brazilian audiovisual sector.' 'And more than just celebrating this moment,' he says. 'We are ready to turn it into concrete business opportunities and social and economic development.' 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Euronews
25-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Euronews
Dreams, diamonds and dystopias: Euronews Culture's Top 10 Movies from Berlinale 2025
The 75th Berlin International Film Festival has wrapped its first year under new director Tricia Tuttle – and it was an extremely promising start. Now that we've had time to make our peace with the results, forget all about the dire opening film, and pray we'll never get cloned, it's time to round up our favourite films from this year's edition. These are the soon-to-be-released titles you should be keeping an eye out for this year. O Último Azul (The Blue Trail) Gabriel Mascaro's Brazil-set dystopian film The Blue Trail is without a doubt this year's Competition standout. While it narrowly missed out on the Golden Bear and had to settle for the runner-up prize (Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize), no other 2025 Bear-competing film came close to this anti-ageism parable with a huge heart. It stars Denise Weinberg as Tereza, an elderly woman defying the seemingly benevolent Brazilian government that has decreed people past the age of 75 should be sent to a remote housing facility called the Colony. She embarks on a journey to tick one last wish off her bucket list before she loses her freedom. After Neon Bull and Divine Love, Mascaro delicately embraces his central concept – which recalls Shōhei Imamura's The Ballad of Narayama and, to a point, Chie Hayakawa's Plan75 - and rather than overplay his dystopian hand (the population control aspect could have gone very Soylent Green), crafts a hypothetical future that feels plausible. Both timely and timeless, The Blue Trail is a witty, thought-provoking and affecting warning cry about the forced displacement of communities and the dark possibilities that could feasibly decry from an authoritarian future. Read our full review here. Release date: TBC, but the film has sold to various territories like France, Germany, Spain, Portugal and Norway. Expect it on your screens sooner rather than later. Sorda (Deaf) Winner of this year's Panorama Audience Award, Sorda (Deaf) is heart-poundingly beautiful and an absolute triumph. Spanish filmmaker Eva Libertad tells the story of an inter-abled couple: a deaf woman, Ángela (Miriam Garlo), and her hearing partner, Héctor (Álvaro Cervantes). They are expecting a child and don't know whether the baby will be deaf or hearing – and how each possibility could affect them as both a couple and as individuals wishing to share their perspective of the world. Like many films at this year's festival, Deaf deals with parenthood - specifically the trials of motherhood. However, what makes Libertad's film stand out in a crowded field is its depiction of love. By taking the time to introduce the audience to a loving couple and their supportive network of friends, the filmmaker ensures that we're completely invested in the wellbeing of this unit, as well as fully committed when it comes to grappling with the complex emotions at play. Whether it's parental responsibility, communication, isolation that decries from institutional discrimination or the importance of finding your community, Libertad does every facet justice - without ever toppling into melodrama. Do not miss out on Deaf. Release date: 4 April in Spain. Other European territories TBC. La tour de glace (The Ice Tower) Over the course of three films, from her 2004 debut Innocence to 2021's Earwig via Evolution, one of our favourite European films of the 21st century, Lucile Hadžihalolović has established herself as one of the most singular voices in French cinema. She did not disappoint for her fourth feature, a transfixing adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's 'The Snow Queen'. Set in wintery 1970s France, this glacially paced fairy tale is more vibes than it is crescendoing narrative. It brims with brooding atmospherics, and through the mutual infatuation that grows between a young orphan (Clara Pacini) and an elusive actress (Marion Cotillard), the film gradually offers thematic strands on maternal substitutes and adolescent awakenings. It also introduces a fascinating mise en abyme in which Andersen's totemic mirror is replaced by a camera – thereby creating a meditation on the medium of cinema itself. Yes, it sounds like a lot and if you're not in the right mood, The Ice Tower 's longueurs and prism-like layers will prove more frustrating than entrancing. However, if you're looking for a frosty mood piece crackling with hidden meanings, this eerie reverie is a must-see. It left the Berlinale with the Bear for Artistic Achievement – and while this is amply merited, The Ice Tower should have earned Hadžihalolović the Best Director gong this year. Read our full review here. Release date: Scheduled for 17 September in France. Other territories TBC. Reflet dans un diamant mort (Reflection In A Dead Diamond) No other Competition film this year was quite as daring, kinetic or sensual as Reflection In A Dead Diamond, by French husband-and-wife filmmakers Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani. It's a tough one to describe, but here goes: Imagine the fever dream of a dying James Bond who looks back at his career in espionage, skipping through his memories of violence, sex and leather-clad assassins like a needle scratching the record, while Peter Strickland and Quentin Tarantino's undergarments tighten with cinephilic delight. It's 007 meets Death in Venice, for a hyper-fragmented valentine to everything from the Italian pulp comics Diabolik to Philippe de Broca's Le Magnifique via 1967's Bond spoof Casino Royale. Its strength though – quite aside from its trippy visuals – is that it goes beyond a 1960s Euro Spy genre homage or an OSS 117 pastiche. It's an incredibly sensorial ride that doesn't need you to recognise the film references it lovingly toys with and unveils layers of meaning regarding memory and the possibilities of cinema as an artform. It's a blast. Check out our interview with Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani. Release date: 2 July in France. Shudder have bought the distribution rights for the US, UK, Ireland, and Australia, so a Summer release for those territories seems likely. Den stygge stesøsteren (The Ugly Stepsister) Following its Sundance premiere, The Ugly Stepsister went to the Panorama sidebar section of the Berlinale, and the festival was stronger for it. The confident debut feature from Norwegian filmmaker Emilie Blichfeldt reimagines the fairy tale Cinderella through the eyes of Elvira (Lea Myren), who will go to any lengths to compete with her beautiful stepsister Agnes for the affections of the prince. While there have been several reframings of misunderstood characters over the years (Maleficent and the lot), The Ugly Stepsister stands out. It honours the Brothers Grimm tale in its period setting and grimness (pun intended), but also has the conviction of its vision. No matter how excruciating that vision may be. Tempting though it is to draw a comparison with Coralie Fargeat's The Substance (both films anchor themselves in the New Wave Feminist Horror movement and comment on societal expectations regarding beauty standards through squirm-inducing body horror and plenty of dark humour), Blichfeldt's film shouldn't be eclipsed by its genre neighbour. It's a fully-formed triumph that heralds a bold and ambitious new cinematic voice. Release date: 7 March in Norway. Shudder have secured the rights, so it should head to the streaming platform very soon. Stay tuned to Euronews Culture for our interview with Emilie Blichfeldt. And while you're waiting, catch up with our interview with Coralie Fargeat. El mensaje (The Message) If a miracle were to happen today, would we be able to recognise it? What if a logic-defying gift was bestowed on someone, could we appreciate it considering the times we live in? Iván Fund's minimalist marvel The Message is a black and white Argentinian road movie that seems to invite this question. It follows a little girl, Anika (played to perfection by the young Anika Bootz), who can read the minds of animals – both living and dead. The pint-sized Dr. Doolittle blessed with 'natural telepathy' travels around in a van with her guardians, who commodify this gift into a consultation business. Is it all a scam or can Anika truly establish a connection between worlds? It doesn't matter. Whether magic or fraud, Anika's sessions with (excessively cute) animals give hope. Perhaps at the cost of childhood wonder... The Message is a quietly mesmerising and tenderly enigmatic film that may seem meagre as a contemplative narrative; however, it beautifully lingers on the importance of connection, belief and the unspoken intergenerational 'gifts' we take for granted. Release date: TBC On vous croit (We Believe You) A standout this year was in the new Perspectives section of the Berlinale, dedicated to first fiction feature films. This Belgian debut from Charlotte Devillers and Arnaud Dufeys opens with the arrival of Alice (Myriem Akheddiou) and her children (Ulysse Goffin and Adèle Pinckaers) in court. She's nearing breaking point, while her kids are either on edge or temperamental in the extreme. They have a meeting with the family court judge for a grueling custody battle that's already three years in the making. We quickly learn that it's more complicated: there is a criminal investigation underway against the father (Laurent Capelluto), who allegedly raped his youngest son. Reminiscent of Xavier Legrand's Jusqu'à la garde (Custody), this agonizingly tense film is mostly set in one room – a long scene in which we hear the statements of each parent and their lawyers as if in real time. It all feels uncomfortably genuine, and for good reason: Devillers used her personal and professional experience as a nurse to inform the depiction of incest and sexual abuse, as well as the proceedings of the youth protection case. In 78 minutes, We Believe You reflects the grueling brutality of a system which perpetuates an endless spiral that reopens wounds and nourishes trauma. It's harrowing, enraging and masterfully performed. Release date: TBC Hé mán (Eel) Another Perspectives title which stands out this year is Eel, the feature debut by Taiwanese filmmaker Chu Chun-Teng. And with a title like that, it should be no surprise that the film is slippery – in the sense those looking for clear meaning should look elsewhere. Those willing to surrender to the bizarre and beautiful rhythms of dream logic should rush to see Eel. It centers on young man (Devin Pan) who works at a waste disposal plant when he's not sleepwalking and digging in the dirt for (metaphorical?) eels. He encounters a woman (Misi Ke), who floats onto the shore. They start a passionate relationship. Mystical past and realist present collide, as do contradictory longings for both belonging and escape. Trying to adequately describe what happens borders on impossible, but this cinematic tone poem features a visual verve that takes the viewer on a transcendental trip that is hard to define. And even harder to shake off. Release date: TBC Drømmer (Dreams (Sex Love)) The coveted Golden Bear went to Drømmer (Dreams (Sex Love)) by Norwegian director Dag Johan Haugerud. It is the third chapter in his thematic trilogy Sex / Love / Dreams, which deals with emotional and physical intimacy. The first chapter, Sex, premiered at the Berlinale last year and focused on two straight married men discovering the elasticity of their sexuality. Love, which premiered in Competition at last year's Venice Film Festival, followed two colleagues – a heterosexual woman and a gay man – seeking a romantic connection in the new world of dating apps. Now comes Dreams, which follows 17-year-old Johanne (Ella Øverbye), who falls head over heels for her new art teacher Johanna (Selome Emnetu). In an attempt to capture this intense romantic awakening, the student pours her experiences onto paper with raw honesty. She shares her confessional novella with her grandmother, who then shares it with Johanne's alarmist mum. Initially horrified, she suspects 'sexual abuse' and quickly changes her tune once she recognises her daughter's 'little feminist gem'. While Dreams may not be one of the most singular films in Competition this year, it's a gently captivating and very talky queer coming-of-age story that accurately captures the overwhelming intensity of first love. It's also crucially about the importance of perspective when it comes to longing – and how without acknowledging perspectives, the boundaries between reality and fiction tend to blur. Dreams is a bit of a safe choice as far as the Golden Bear is concerned, but it remains a superbly acted and often very funny trilogy capper. It features one of the greatest feminist takedowns of the film Flashdance you'll ever hear, and it will have you leaving the cinema with a smile. Release date: 8 May in Germany – more European dates to follow very soon. Lurker Best known for his writing and producing work on the series Beef and The Bear, Alex Russell makes his feature filmmaking debut with Lurker. It's a tense and very unsettling thriller starring Théodore Pellerin as Matthew, a young man who becomes obsessed with LA pop star Oliver (Archie Madekwe). It all starts innocently enough, and at first you feel for the sweaty and desperate hanger-on who gets exploited by Oliver's entourage. However, the obsession takes some Talented Mr Ripley turns, and the wiry outcast becomes unnerving and calculating. He'll do anything to cling onto the newfound glow of celebrity he's basking in. From the obsessive fandom of Misery to the dark influencer satire Ingrid Goes West, this sort of Fatal Attraction scenario doesn't sound too fresh. However, Russell manages to take the well-worn subject of fame-based power dynamics and thrillingly explores the pathology of celebrity and parasocial relationships. Powered every step of the way by Pellerin's genuinely unsettling performance, Lurker is a knot-in-stomach affair you won't forget in a hurry. Going one further, Russell impresses in the way he isn't interested in easy answers, subverting the obvious conclusion you'd expect to create something darker about toxic determination and the possibility of reinvention.
