Swedish pic Mother, Couch! starring Taylor Russell and Ewan McGregor alongside Ellen Burstyn is one of the titles San Sebastian has set to compete for its New Directors award during its 71st edition, running September 22 — 30.
The film is from the debut feature filmmaker Niclas Larsson and follows three estranged children who are brought together when their mother refuses to move from a couch in a furniture store. The previously unannounced film is a USA – Denmark -Sweden co-production. Unlike the other titles announced today, the mystery project also had no accompanying image.
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Eleven productions from nineteen countries will compete for San Sebastian’s Kutxabank-New Directors Award. Of all the selected movies, seven are debut works, while the rest are second features. The Kutxabank-New Directors Award comes with a 50,000 euro cash prize divided equally between the director and the distributor of the film in Spain. Films in the New Directors section are also candidates for the TCM Youth Award, decided by a jury of 150 students between the ages of 18 and 25.
Also debuting in the Competition is the second full-length feature from filmmaker Liang Ming, best known for their feature debut, Wisdom Tooth (2020). Ming will open the New Directors Competition with Xiao Yao You / Carefree Days, an adaptation of Ban Yu’s novel about a young patient attempting to find her place in the world.
Russian screenwriter and editor Ilia Malakhova makes her feature film debut in New Directors with Hi, Mom, a story focused on the figure of Kira, a 38-year-old woman who has never recovered from her mother’s disappearance and who lives in the same house as her younger sister and her daughters.
San Sebastian head José Luis Rebordinos announced the lineup this afternoon. Check out the full list below:
XIAO YAO YOU / CAREFREE DAYS
LIANG MING (CHINA)
Country(ies) of production: China
Cast: Lu Xing Chen, Li Xue Qin, Li Cong Xi, Ai Li Ya
OPENING NIGHT FILM
In Northeast China, Shenyang is a city decaying. Xu Lingling is a 25 year old girl suffering from uremia and her life has collapsed. In the height of her illness, her dissolute father has returned, with her best friend Tan Na and former classmate Zhao Dongyang, to take care of her. Though her life is suffering, facing the issues of family affection, love and friendship, she feels she still deserves to live. One day, Xu Lingling decided to for a trip, with Tan Na and Zhao Dongyang, they hit the road.
KIRI NO FUCHI / BEYOND THE FOG
DAICHI MURASE (JAPAN)
Country(ies) of production: Japan
Cast: Shuri Miyake, Masaki Miura, Shinzo Hotta, Asami Mizukawa
CLOSING NIGHT FILM
A quiet hamlet hidden in the remote mountains village of Japan. In this hamlet once lively with hikers and shops, we meet Ihika, a 12-year-old born into a family that has run an inn for generations. Her father has been living apart for a few years. Saki, Ihika’s mother who married into this family, has been managing the inn with Shige, her father-in-law. One day, Shige disappears. As the inn’s survival is threatened, a time of change is coming to for Ihika’s family.
ASHIL / ACHILLES
FARHAD DELARAM (IRAN)
Country(ies) of production: Germany – Iran – France
Cast: Mirsaeed Molavian, Behdokht Valian, Roya Afshar, Neda Aghighi
A young filmmaker who now works in a hospital takes a mental patient out for a short ride to later find out who she really is. Now he has to decide whether to run away with her or take her back to the hospital.
BAHADUR THE BRAVE
DIWA SHAH (INDIA)
Country(ies) of production: India
Cast: Rupesh Lama, Rahul Mukhia
A nationwide lock-down is imposed in India during the coronavirus pandemic. While all Nepalese migrant labourers are boarding the vans to leave for their country, Hansi sees this as an opportunity to earn more money for his ailing son in the emerging labour crises. His brother-in-law, Dil Bahadur, offers him illegal work in a godown.
BAURYNA SALU
ASKHAT KUCHINHIREKOV (KAZAKHSTAN)
Country(ies) of production: Kazakhstan
Cast: Yersultan Yermanov
Following an old nomadic tradition ‘bauryna salu’, a boy Yersultan, was given after his birth to be raised by his grandmother. He grew up with a resentment and a disconnection from his parents. When he turns 12, his grandmother dies and he has to move back with his family which he barely knows. Yersultan’s coming of age process coincides with an unbearable transformation and an attempt to restore the relationship between him and his parents, especially his father.
EL OTRO HIJO / THE OTHER SON
JUAN SEBASTIÁN QUEBRADA (COLOMBIA)
Country(ies) of production: Colombia – France – Argentina
Cast: Miguel González, Ilona Almansa, Jenny Navarrete
Europe-Latin America Co-production Forum 2020
Federico and his brother Simon live their teenage years to the fullest, until the day Simon dies by falling from a balcony at a party. While his family falls to pieces before his eyes, Federico tries to live a normal life during his final weeks of school. Unable to mourn, he starts to grow closer to Laura, his dead brother’s girlfriend and seems to find comfort in her.
HI, MOM
ILIA MALAKHOVA (RUSSIA)
Country(ies) of production: Russia
Cast: Daria Saveleva, Aglaya Tarasova, Anna Osipova
Kira is 36. She works at the Pulkovo Airport call centre and lives with her younger sister Vera and her daughters. A couple years ago, their mother kicked the sisters out of the house and later disappeared. It’s time for Kira to accept that her mother is dead and move on: get the death certificate, claim her inheritance and start living separately from her sister and nieces. A new life awaits her. But Kira does not want to change anything and dreams only of her mother coming back.
LA ESTRELLA AZUL / THE BLUE STAR
JAVIER MACIPE (SPAIN)
Country(ies) of production: Spain – Argentina
Cast: Pepe Lorente, Cuti Carabajal, Bruna Cusí, Marc Rodriguez, Mariela Carabajal, Noelia Verenice Díaz
The 90s. A famous Spanish rock star travels around Latin America in the endeavour to reconnect with his vocation. There he meets an old musician down on his luck, prompting the birth of an unlikely duo with every chance of becoming an epic commercial failure.
LAST SHADOW AT FIRST LIGHT
NICOLE MIDORI WOODFORD (SINGAPORE)
Country(ies) of production: Singapore – Japan – Slovenia – Philippines – Indonesia
Cast: Masatoshi Nagase, Mihaya Shirata, Mariko Tsutsui, Peter Yu
Ami, haunted by recurring apparitions, embarks on a journey from Singapore to Japan in search of her missing mother. Amidst the transforming landscapes, Ami’s dreams, hauntings and lost mother unveil their true form.
LES RAYONS GAMMA / GAMMA RAYS
HENRY BERNADET (CANADA)
Country(ies) of production: Canada
Cast: Chaimaa Zinedine, Chris Kanyembuga, Yassine Jabrane, Hani Laroum, Océane Garçon-Gravel
Abdel’s quiet life is upended by the arrival of his extraverted cousin, who’s staying for the summer. Fatima craves a more stable life since she’s starting a new job as a supermarket cashier. Toussaint, while fishing, finds a bottle washed up on the shore, and there’s a message inside. Straddling the line between fiction and documentary, Les Rayons Gamma / Gamma Rays is a dramedy filmed with young, non-professional actors from immigrant communities.
MOTHER, COUCH!
NICLAS LARSSON (SWEDEN)
Country(ies) of production: USA – Denmark -Sweden
Cast: Taylor Russell, Ewan McGregor, Ellen Burstyn
Taylor Russell, Ewan McGregor and Ellen Burstyn star in this story of three estranged children who are brought together when their mother refuses to move from a couch in a furniture store
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