– Showcasing 133 films from 42 countries, the 37th edition of the festival is unspooling between 7 and 12 July and has just survived the tumult of the Nadav Lapid affair
The Red Anorak by Adolpho Arrietta
Rocked by the withdrawal of Nadav Lapid (who was due to serve as a jury member) following threats to boycott the festival made by several filmmakers selected in the event, and the subsequent publication of two calls to support the Israeli director (accessible here and here) – who’s a prominent opponent of his government – which garnered a huge number of signatures from big names within the 7th art in France (Jacques Audiard, Justine Triet, etc.), FIDMarseille is nonetheless forging ahead with preparations for its 37th edition (running 7 to 12 July).
The jam-packed programme includes the opening movie Route algéricaine by Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche (who’ll be the focus of a retrospective) and the closing film The Diary of a Chambermaid by Romania’s Radu Jude (discovered in Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight). These two titles will bookend a line-up composed of 133 films hailing from 42 countries, with 48 of these films (40 screening in world premieres and six in international premieres) taking part in the festival’s five competitions.
Thirteen feature films and one medium-length film (of which 10 will screen in world premieres and four in international premieres) steal particular focus in the international competition, which will be assessed by a jury including Argentina’s Mariano Llinas, Romania’s Eszter Tompa and Canada’s Jesse Cumming. Standing tall among the contending titles are ten European (co)productions: Foam of Worlds (Italy) by Italian director Anna Marziano, The Clearing (Netherlands/Indonesia) by the Netherlands’ Sabine Groenewegen, Staubwelt (Finland/Sweden) by Finnish filmmaker Sawandi Groskind, the Berlinale Forum title Foreign Travel (Germany) by US director Ted Fendt, Last Stop for the Circular Ticket (France) by French director Jean-Claude Rousseau, The Red Anorak (Spain/France) by Spaniard Adolpho Arrietta, Letters From an Inner Exile (Spain) by fellow Spanish filmmaker Eloy Enciso Cachafeiro, The Crowd (Colombia/Spain) by Colombia’s Felipe Rugeles Pineda, Mirage (Portugal/USA) by Bingham Bryant and the medium-length film Permanent Trespass (Belgium/USA) by Basyma Saad and Sanja Grozdanić. They’re further joined by Amnesty 1979 (Brazil) by Anita Leandro, The Half-Finished Heaven (China) by Huizhi Liu, Mother, you have not died yet. But you will. And when you do, you will finally be alive again (South Africa/USA) by Advik Beni, and You Know Me, Now Forget It (Brazil) by Denise Vieira.
The French competition comprises nine titles (all showing in world premieres), spearheaded by feature films Chicken Soup (France) by Caroline Milcent, Entre deux songes (France/Germany/Philippines) by Jonas Bak, Si tout le monde part (France) by Justine Harbonnier, Le Centaure (France) by Jacques Meilleurat and Seul le serpent sait (France) by directorial duo Olivier Séror and Martin Verdet, as well as four medium-length films, including Journal du futur by Agathe Bonitzer. 10 feature films will be battling it out in the First Films Competition, another ten in the GNCR Competition and 15 shorts in the Flash Competition.
Equally eye-catching is a Focus on Portuguese artists Mariana Caló and Francisco Queimadela (a full retrospective, including an international premiere of Infinito infinito, na imaginação da matéria), the Other Gems section, notably screening Alea Jacarandas by Hassen Ferhani, Krakatoa by Carlos Casas, Bleda y Rosa by Xavier Crespo, Lettre à Glauber Rocha by Hervé Joubert-Laurencin and Marianne Dautrey, and The Case Against Space by Graeme Arnfield; not to mention special screenings along the lines of La Conscience politique by Léolo Victor-Pujebet and Un corps à soi by Marine Relinger.
(Translated from French)
