Continuing its dynamic rise, marked by several recent hits (Félicité [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Alain Gomis
scheda film], Beauty and the Dogs [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Kaouther Ben Hania
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intervista: Stephan Streker
scheda film] and To the Four Winds [+leggi anche:
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Standing out in particular is the French majority production Manta Ray [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], which will be making its world premiere at Venice Film Festival in the Horizons section, before joining the Discovery programme at Toronto Film Festival and the Zabaltegi-Tabakalera section at San Sebastian. This first feature film by the Thai director Phuttiphong Aroonpheng – known for his work as director of photography on Vanishing Point (in competition at Rotterdam in 2015) and The Island Funeral (awarded at Tokyo in 2016) – the plot focuses on the enigmatic meeting (and its consequences) of a fisherman and a wounded man. A production by Les Films de l'Étranger, along with the Thai outfit Diversion and the Chinese company Heyi Pictures, the film was also supported by the CNC via its Aide aux cinémas du monde fund.

Jour2Fête's sales team, driven by Samuel Blanc, will be relying on another debut feature in Toronto's Discovery programme: Her Job [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Nikos Labôt
scheda film] by the Greek director Nikos Labôt. The film – which follows the misadventures of a 37-year-old housewife who is forced to get a job for the first time in her life following the economic recession – is associated in production with Greece (Homemade Films), France (Sister Productions) and Serbia (Sense Production).

Papicha [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Mounia Meddour
scheda film], the first feature by Mounia Meddour – with post-production just beginning – has also just been added to the company's line-up. The film stars Lyna Khoudri, Nadia Kaci and Hiam Abbass in a story set in Algeria in the 90s, which focuses on an 18-year-old woman, passionate about fashion, who refuses to let the tragic events of the civil war affect her appetite for life. As the climate becomes more and more conservative, she decides to fight for her freedom by organising a fashion show... A film produced by the French companies The Ink Connection and High Sea Production, the Algerian outfit Tayda Films and the Belgian company Scope Pictures.

Another asset in Jour2Fête’s line-up is Echo (read news), thethird feature film by the talented Icelandic filmmaker Rúnar Rúnarsson after Volcano [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] (discovered at Cannes Directors' Fortnight in 2011) and Sparrows [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Rúnar Rúnarsson
scheda film] (winner at San Sebastian in 2015). The film's plot – which is due to start shooting at the end of the year – will be composed of 59 scenes portraying an intimate and tender portrait of modern society, via a dive into the goings-on in Iceland at Christmas time, with its mix of excitement and concern: an abandoned farm burns in the countryside, in a school, a children's choir sings Christmas carols, in a slaughterhouse, chickens parade along a ramp, in a museum, a woman argues on the phone, in a living room, a young girl makes her grandmother try on her new virtual reality headset...