Les Films de Cannes à Bucarest: Sweden is the country in focus at the 13th edition
of the year Les Films de Cannes à Bucarestwhich runs from October 21 to October 30, 2022, will offer viewers an edition where Sweden is the country in focus.
Swedish director Ruben Östlunds Triangle of grief, this year’s Palme d’Or winner, will premiere locally at the festival. Östlund, who previously won the Palme d’Or in 2017 for The squarereturned with a satire looking at the relationship between power and beauty.
Östlund’s latest film is joined in the program by two other films by aspiring filmmakers: Tarik Saleh’s Boy from heaven (Sweden), winner of the best screenplay award at Cannes this year, and Danish-Iranian Ali Abbasis Holy spiderwhich gave Zar Amir Ebrahimi the Best Actress Award at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.
Born in Iran 40 years ago, educated in Sweden and based in Denmark, Abbasi made his second Cannes appearance this year, having won the 2018 Un Certain Regard section with Limit, a film about a border policeman. His new film, Holy spideris “the gruesome story of a serial killer who ‘cleanses’ the Iranian holy city of Mashhad of sex workers.”
Saleh’s Boy from heaven is a dark thriller set in Cairo about a poor boy who wins a scholarship to the prestigious Al-Azhar University, where he is drawn into a brutal power struggle between Egypt’s religious and political elites.
A former graffiti artist, Saleh grew up with a filmmaker father and worked in his film studio before attending art school in Alexandria. As well as directing episodes of the cult series Westworld and Ray Donovanhis 2017 film The Nile Hilton Incident won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance.
At this year’s festival, not only the Nordic but also the local creative force will be presented. The festival will open with Metronome, Alexandru Belc’s feature film debut which won Best Director in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes this year. The film will be presented at Les Films de Cannes à Bucarest two weeks before its theatrical release on November 4.
Screenings take place at Cinema Elvire Popesco, Cinema Muzeul Țăranului and Cinemateca Eforie.
More information is available at filmedefestival.ro and on the festival’s Facebook and Instagram accounts.
(Photo: Les Films de Cannes a Bucarest Facebook page)