All genres are welcome at Locarno’s co-development initiative Alliance 4 Development this year, from “dramas to dark comedies and thrillers,” says project manager Francesca Palleschi. But 11 projects from Austria, France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland do share some recurring themes.
“Identity, history’s enduring legacy, environmental concerns, family ties, the sense of belonging and displacement, societal dynamics. And the desperate search for attention,” Palleschi list.
In “I’m Not Here to Make Friends” by Julia Niemann, who recently enjoyed arthouse success with controversial Sundance premiere “Veni Vidi Vici” co-directedwith Daniel Hoesl, she’s following Emmy, a contestant on a dating reality show. The film will be shot in English.
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“Reality TV may be the lowest of all forms of entertainment. But when it’s done well, it tells of nothing less than the human condition, just like the movies. It’s a film about what we all want: Attention. Why are we so addicted to it? Why do we want to be seen so desperately? And how much of ourselves are we willing to give up for it?,” notes Niemann, while producer Katharina Posch adds: “It’s a sleek and sunny psycho-thriller about the age of narcissism we’re all living in.”
As for family ties, Alessandro Grande will reference a shocking true story that took place in the 1990s in Italy in “Ithaca,” where a teenager finds out his parents might not be his real parents after all: in fact, they are accused of kidnapping him when he was still a baby.
“Throughout the writing process, Alessandro and [his co-writer] Guido Silei have built a very solid relationship with the real protagonist of the events and his involvement has been fundamental in addressing his most intimate struggle and point of view,” says producer Chiara Cruciatti.
Flurin Giger will head to the 19thcentury for “A Year Without the Summer,” when a volcano eruption causes another Ice Age, to the horror of a peasant family. The past will rear its ugly head also in “6 Months 6 Days,” where the richest woman in Germany becomes smitten with a young man. But he has a hidden agenda – he wants to make sure her family finally acknowledges their WWII past. Another German heiress will start questioning her family’s legacy in Kim Lêa Sakkal’s “A Paradise Lost.”
“It will be an epic experiment on privilege and cross-class encounters, which will delve into complicated human co-dependencies,” says Solal Coutard, who produces with Claus Herzog-Reichel and Mehmet Akif Büyükatalay.
In “From Planet Earth,” Alì – a mysterious and apparently mute African boy – appears out of nowhere on the outskirts of a big city. Taken to a hotel in the mountains used as a shelter for foreign minors, he gradually opens up. When things seem to start changing for the better, he is betrayed and escapes to the city. As revealed by producer Claudio Giapponesi, director Luca Magi worked as a social worker in a shelter for migrants and adolescent refugees.
“This reality feeds his creativity for this film,” he says.
As pointed out by Palleschi, another common thread connecting the projects is “the blend of storytelling codes, a fascinating interaction between realism and the supernatural, combining distinctive styles and original visions.”
Just like in “Hôtel des Thermes,” directed by Maéva Ranaïvojaona and Georg Tiller, where a ball turns into something much more sinister once “the ghosts of the colonial past awaken.”
“Our ensemble film is a tale of colonial revenge that explores the legacy of colonialism in Madagascar,” stated the directors. “In a magical-realistic tone, set in a quarantined old colonial haunted hotel, different cultures and conflicting goals clash, striving to define our contemporary reality while reflecting on a brutal shared past. Both of which seem impossible to reconcile.”
According to producers Alexander Dumreicher-Ivanceanu, Bady Minck and Laurence Lascary, the directors will focus “on a representation of the consequences and the omnipresent traces of the history of colonization and strive for a dialogue between cultures and perspectives.”
A whole different hotel will be shown in “Atlantic Mirage” by Hakim Mao, as two childhood friends head there to work – and dream of a better future. But one of them suddenly disappears, and a strange phenomenon occurs at the very same time. In “Undercurrents” by Beatrice Minger, set in an alpine region and playing with magical realism, three generations of women will fight the trauma of loss and disconnection. Finally, “Lost Paradise” by Hugues Harich will also venture beyond the familiar, showing the world ravaged by the lack of water and two siblings desperately fighting for survival.
Tragicomedy “Bourgeois Paranoia” directed by Lukas Nathrath will lighten the mood, however, as five people meet in a café over a course of one week. Soon, “insults pile up and everyday situations escalate.”
“The characters, hiding behind cheerful facades, try to save face but end up losing their self-control,” says the director, awarded at the Swiss fest for “One Last Evening” at Locarno’s First Look back in 2022.
“I am fascinated by power dynamics and human behavior pushed to the extreme, and I love to depict the awkwardness and absurdity of interpersonal communication. We aim for a tragicomic tone, like in ‘One Last Evening,’ but with darker elements, inspired by films and series like ‘Wild Tales’ and ‘Beef,’ to show an ensemble of multifaceted protagonists on the brink of a nervous breakdown.”
“It’s always a joy to share even a tiny part of the journey with these projects as they become films and reach audiences,” admits Palleschi, eager to mention recent success stories. Mo Harawe’s “The Village Next to Paradise” screened at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard in May, while Willy Hans’s “Der Fleck” was selected for Locarno’s Filmmakers of the Present section.
“The film industry has always been a fast-paced arena subject to uncertainty and rapid changes, but today it feels even more accelerated. Business models, trends and leading players can rise and fall in the blink of an eye, leaving no clear roadmap for the future. Filmmakers have one way forward: to stand by their uniqueness, pursue their original visions, and share them with their audiences,” she adds.
“Initiatives like Alliance 4 Development are instrumental in nurturing creative exchanges among filmmakers, helping to build a community of new authors and stories beyond their countries’ borders.”
Alliance 4 Development: The 2024 Lineup
“6 Months 6 Days”(6 Mois 6 jours)
Dir: Michale Boganim
Juliana Kant is the wealthiest woman in Germany. When she encounters Raphaël, she succumbs to his charm, endangering her structured and protocol-driven existence. Raphaël, however, is not who he claims to be. He is determined to force the Kants to confront their past. “It explores generational silences around the Holocaust,” argues Mathilde Leite, who produces with Dorothe Beinemeier for Vilanova Productions (France) and Red Balloon Film (Germany). “Drawing inspiration from the Quandt family’s collaboration with the Nazi regime, the film focuses on the relationship between a heiress and a grandson of a death camp victim.” Eyeing a 2026 shoot, it will craft an “intimate exploration” of the characters’ confrontation with history. “This project reflected Michale’s work as a filmmaker [and ability to] bridge fiction and memory, identity and universality,” she adds.
“A Paradise Lost”
Dir: Kim Lêa Sakkal
Nina, a German heiress, is the last remnant of a slowly disintegrating Beiruti empire that her father built. When sudden paralysis disrupts her life, Nico, a young Lebanese nurse, is hired for assistance. Nico becomes embroiled in the estate’s mysteries, blurring roles between the women and shifting allegiances among the staff. According to producer Solal Coutard, Kim Lêa Sakkal’s upcoming film is a story of “ghosts past and present, of colonial traces, of personal loss, of motherhood and of womanhood.” “As Kim knows how to explore and dissect human behavior with a ‘thriller touch,’ it will provide a sharp analysis throughout all the instilled mystery,” says Coutard, producing for France’s Collective Cinema alongside Claus Herzog-Reichel and Mehmet Akif Büyükatalay (filmfaust, Germany).
“Atlantic Mirage”(“La Fin de L’été”)
Dir: Hakim Mao
Hakim Mao invites his future viewers to Agadir in Morocco. It’s late summer and Younès and Ismaïl, inseparable since childhood, work at the Atlantic Mirage hotel while selling their charms to the tourists. They save their money with the dream of leaving one day. But one morning, Ismaïl disappears, while the ocean is struck by a strange phenomenon. Younès sets out to unravel the mystery of what has happened to his friend. “With ‘Atlantic Mirage,’ we aim at making an unapologetically queer genre film, set in the city of Agadir, a territory full of history and mystery, expressed through bold aesthetic choices and hoping to reveal a new generation of Moroccan actors,” says the director. “Atlantic Mirage” is produced by France’s Furyo Films, founded by Emma Binet, Charles Meresseand Adrien Barrouillet.
“A Year Without the Summer”(“Ein Jahr ohne Sommer”)
Dir: Flurin Giger
Produced by Aline Schmid (Beauvoir Films, Switzerland), it’s co-produced by Cecile Tollu-Polonowski (Match Factory Productions Gmbh, Germany). “A Year Without the Summer” is set in the 19thcentury, when a volcano on a small island in Indonesia erupts. Its ash covers the whole world and another Ice Age begins, forcing a farmer’s daughter and her family to fight for survival over the course of four seasons. “The ‘simply life’ is what interests me: people who lived with the cycle of nature, for whom exile was not an option, and who never learned about the cause of this catastrophe,” says the director, hoping to find answers “to questions that preoccupy and shape our society today – and us as human beings just as much as they did back then.” Aline Schmid adds: “The topics dealt with [here] could not be more contemporary.”
“Bourgeois Paranoia”(“Bourgeoise paranoia”)
Dir: Lukas Nathrath
Klinkerfilm Production – also behind well-received co-productions “Wajib” and “A Place Called Dignity” – introduces another film by Lukas Nathrath, awarded for “One Last Evening.” Nathrath, who co-wrote the script with Sebastian Jakob Doppelbauer, produces with Linus Günther. As previously reported byPvNew, the film is an episodic dark tragicomedy about five individuals grappling with rejection and the desire for revenge. Their lives intertwine in a pulsating café in Hamburg over one fateful week. A waiter, unable to say no, is humiliated until he strikes back; an aspiring author, hoping to meet her great idol, is accused of theft; a rejected love turns into obsession and a roommate interview culminates in bloody violence. As noted by the director, “Bourgeois Paranoia” “delves into the tensions of everyday life where societal norms clash with individual desires.”
“From Planet Earth”(“Dal pianeta terra”)
Dir: Luca Magi
Produced by Claudio Giapponesi for Kiné Società Cooperativa, based in Bologna, and Alessandro Leo for Aleo Film, it’s written by Magi and Maurizio Buquicchio. When African boy Alì escapes to the city, he’s lost. He becomes homeless and, in the streets, he meets people who teach him how to survive or try to exploit him. Slowly, but inexorably, he disappears into the same nowhere he came from. “It’s a very peculiar coming-of-age [story] where Alì’s growth seems hopeless, but also where poetry and tenderness claim to find space in the life of the people mostly invisible in our society,” says the director, who’s hoping to shoot in 2026. Giapponesi adds: “Some authors have grown up with us: Luca is one of them. After ‘Stories of the Half-Light,’ a documentary awarded at Visions du Réel, he started his long research. As in all his works, Luca went deep into the topic he wanted to explore.”
“Hôtel des Thermes”
Dir: Maéva Ranaïvojaona, Georg Tiller
Starring Lucas Englander and Yoli Fuller, it promises quite a post-party hangover: a fancy-dress ball at a grand hotel in Madagascar turns into a bloodbath. It’s produced by Alexander Dumreicher-Ivanceanu, Bady Minck and Laurence Lascary, with cinematographer Sabine Lancelin also on board, responsible for the film’s “very unique aesthetic style.” “By mixing discourses and diving deep into Madagascar’s past and ancient roots of European colonialism, it offers new insights into history that’s little known,” stated the producers. “Moreover, the mixing of ‘codes’ between auteur films, documentaries and genre films, offering a colorful and moving visual spectacle, provides this ambitious project with originality.” Produced by Austria’s Amour Fou (behind “Hinterland” by Stefan Ruzowitzky) and co-produced by France’s De L’Autre Côté (“L’Ascension” by Ludovic Bernard), it will be shot in 2025.
“I’m Not Here to Make Friends”
Dir: Julia Niemann
Niemann has enjoyed arthouse success thanks to “Veni Vidi Vici,” she also co-wrote Gastón Solnicki’s upcoming“Tristes Trópicos.” Now, she focuses on Emmy, who takes part in a reality show. Together with 15 other women, she moves into a villa on a remote island, where they are supposed to fight for a man’s heart. But other contestants couldn’t care less about him: they fight, but for attention. Emmy finds herself on a painful voyage that promises the greatest of all treasures: the unveiling of her true self. only she discovers something much more entertaining along the way. “Playing with elements of horror and satire, it tells the tragic story of the person we all know so intimately, because it’sus. Julia Niemann has done extensive research backstage at various reality formats and much of her story is based on true events,” says Katharina Posch, who produces for Nikolaus Geyrhalter Filmproduktion.
“Ithaca”(“Itaca”)
Dir: Alessandro Grande
Produced by Alessandro Amato, Luigi Chimienti and Chiara Cruciatti for Rome-based dispàrte, it’s written by Grande and Guido Silei. The film – set to be shot in the summer and winter of 2026 – sees Sebastiano, who joins his real family for the very first time. He is 17 now and grew up in a village in the mountains, raised by his mother Darja and his father Walter, now accused of kidnapping him when he was still a newborn. Sebastiano will have to figure out where he belongs and who he really is: a son of Calabrian workers or a wild boy raised by criminals who loved him? Producer Chiara Cruciatti, praising its “universal and timeless aspects,” reveals that Grande has always been interested in “a relationship between a parent and a child, loss of innocence and a connection between family upbringing and individual identity.”
“Lost Paradise”(“Paradis perdu”)
Dir: Hugues Harich
Hariche – who previously brought “Rivière” to Locarno – shows a world devastated by a lack of water. Luna decides to take her sick younger brother to the “border.” According to rumors, the lands there are irrigated and peaceful. Their father thinks it’s too dangerous, but she ignores his warnings and takes Paul to the Red Mountain. During this long journey, they manage to overcome many obstacles until the day their father, who had set out in pursuit, finally catches up with them. “This film stems from the desire to redesign the world, away from this dying earth left to us by our parents,” notes the director, who co-wrote the script with Eric Malabry. “It’s a coming-of-age story in which characters on borrowed time cross deserted landscapes in the hope of a lost paradise. Few words, gestures, looks. A smile. Life, at last.” Produced by Xavier Grin for P.S. Productions, it will be shot in the fall of 2025.
“Undercurrents”
Dir: Beatrice Minger
Minger, also behind “E.1027,” makes her fiction debut with this drama that doesn’t shy away from magical realism. In the film, little Luisa throws a stone against the Dam of Sihl – days later, a crack is discovered. The girl thinks it’s her fault. Later, she is sent to live with her grandmother, where she finds the roots of a generational trauma of loss and disconnection. “This is the story of how the past is always present,” notes the director. Rhea Plangg and Michela Pini produce for Switzerland’s Cinédokké and Lido Pictures, observing: “Located in an alpine region with a history of poverty, the struggle of two mothers and a girl’s search for identity and motherly love makes ‘Undercurrents’ speak to a universal audience. Beatrice Minger is a new female voice, not afraid to look for new artistic paths.”
