Screen presents a selection of the buzziest projects from Europe available to international buyers at this year’s Cannes market.
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Dirs. Claudia Serra, Paula Serra
A group of eight boy and girl scouts and their two leaders are isolated in a Pyrenean mountain refuge by a snowstorm. To keep calm, they count their team members only to find one extra child. This horror thriller is a debut feature for the Serras and is produced by David Matamoros for Barcelona-based Mr Miyagi Films, the company behind Toronto 2019 premiere The Platform, which sold to Netflix worldwide.
Contact: The Yellow Affair
Apart
Dir. Stelana Kliris
The third feature from South Africa-Cyprus director Kliris is based on her parents’ experiences as refugees. Set in 1974 as Turkey invades Cyprus, it follows a young woman who escapes to South Africa via an arranged marriage, only to discover she has left one divided country for another. Leem Lubany, who appeared in Hany Abu-Assad’s Cannes 2013 title Omar, leads the cast with Luca Pasqualino and Girley Jazama. Producers are Kliris’ Meraki Films from Cyprus, the UK’s Over The Fence and Greece’s Atalante Productions.
Contact: Reinvent Yellow Sales
Bianco
Dir. Daniele Vicari
Alessandro Borghi (The Eight Mountains) stars as famed Italian alpinist Walter Bonatti, who set out to conquer the last unscaled face of Mont Blanc in 1961 with trusted climbing partners. Faced with a savage storm, they team up with a French rope team to survive. Pierre Deladonchamps and Finnegan Oldfield co-star in the film, produced by Italy’s Be Water Film with Rai Cinema, in co-production with France’s The Project Film Club and Belgium’s Tarantula.
Contact: Fulvio Firrito, Rai Cinema International Distribution
Carte Blanche
Dir. Gerardo Herrero
Veteran Spanish filmmaker Herrero’s latest feature is a military thriller following a mission that spirals into savagery as a group of soldiers are pushed to the brink. Ivan Pellicer, Victor Clavijo and Salva Reina star. Herrero, whose producing credits include Juan Jose Campanella’s 2010 Oscar winner The Secret In Their Eyes, also produces through his Tornasol Media alongside Mariela Besuievsky.
Contact: Latido Films
Dante
Dir. Hugo Ruiz
Spanish filmmaker Ruiz follows up his Tribeca-winning debut One Night With Adela with a thriller starring Chino Darin as a paramedic on the night shift who is caught up in a deadly criminal plot after responding to an emergency call. Rising Spanish actress Ester Exposito also stars. The film is produced by Gilda Productions Films, Sissi Films and Jarana Films.
Contact: Film Factory Entertainment
Don’t Kill Loretta
Dir. Oliver Kienle
Berlin-based outfit X Filme Creative Pool (Berlin Babylon, The Queen’s Gambit) is behind this English-language horror film set in a remote forest where a group of young models are heading for a consciousness-raising wellness retreat. Little do they know a terrifying presence awaits them in the darkness. The cast is led by rising Canadian actor Kudakwashe Rutendo (Backspot) and Sharahya Carter, and the film is in post-production.
Contact: The Playmaker Munich
For Better And For Worse
Dir. Ferzan Özpetek
The latest from Diamonds director Özpetek is set to begin filming in June, reuniting some of the cast from that film including Vanessa Scalera and Geppi Cucciari. Billed as the story of a movie star and her friends, the screenplay was written by Özpetek, Carlotta Corradi and Elisa Casseri. Diamonds drew more than 2.4 million admissions in Italy and sold to 100-plus countries. For Better And For Worse is produced by Marco Belardi Production, Faros Film, A1 Picture and Vision Distribution, in collaboration with Sky.
Contact Vision Distribution
The Guest
Dir. Mads Mengel
Danish star Trine Dyrholm leads this family drama, in which a couple celebrate the christening of their firstborn child, only for proceedings to be interrupted by the uninvited arrival of the father’s mother. The film is produced by Victor Cunha for Copenhagen-based Monolit Film, and came through the Danish Film Institute’s New Danish Screen scheme.
Contact LevelK
Lionheart
Dir. Nagieb Khaja
TrustNordisk market-debuts footage from this suspense drama, the first feature from frontline conflict zone journalist Khaja. Lionheart follows a man whose gang life is taking a heavy toll. He formulates an exit strategy but soon realises that finding a new life will not be so easy. Besir Zeciri, who was selected as a European Film Promotion Shooting Star last year, leads the cast, having been in Cannes two years ago with Magnus von Horn’s Competition title The Girl With The Needle.
Contact: TrustNordisk
A Long Winter
Dir. Andrew Haigh
Coming off a major success with 2023’s All Of Us Strangers, UK filmmaker Haigh’s latest is an adaptation of Colm Toibin’s short story of the same name. Set in the high mountains as a family prepares for the long winter ahead, the film stars Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Caitriona Balfe, Kit Connor and Fred Hechinger. Production took place last year in Alberta, Canada and it was developed by Mubi and co-financed by Mubi and Film4. Mubi holds rights in several territories including the US, UK-Ireland and Australia-New Zealand.
Contact: The Match Factory
Nina And The Goddess Of Thunder
Dir. Kamil Polak
Currently in development ahead of production next year, this 3D animation adventure is set in the world of Slavic mythology and follows a rebellious young goddess who accidentally drops the hammer needed to forge the sun. She jumps down to Earth and teams up with a young inventor to retrieve it before eternal darkness falls. Polak was a cinematographer and VFX supervisor on Toronto 2023 selection The Peasants. Poland’s New Europe is producing with PFX, Fabrique d’Images and Doce Entertainment.
Contact: New Europe Film Sales
The Other Side
Dir. Mariko Minoguchi
This adventure thriller is set in a near-future society shaped by a devastating pandemic, and stars Nina Hoss as a former doctor who has retreated into isolation in the Alps. Her hard-won solitude and survival is put to the test when an injured stranger arrives. Hoss is coming off an acclaimed performance in 2025’s Hedda, while this is German Japanese director Minoguchi’s second feature after 2019 BFI London Film Festival premiere Relativity. Trimafilm produces with Rundfilm, and the picture is in post-production.
Contact: Beta Cinema
Our Share Of Sand
Dir. Shalini Adnani
When young Maya returns to rural India to reconnect with her estranged father, an accident linked to his illicit sand-mining operation forces her to confront the truth beneath her family’s legacy. The debut feature of Screen International Star of Tomorrow 2025 Adnani — a Chile-born, New York-educated and south London-based filmmaker — shot in Maharashtra, India last year. Maya Mehta, Ellora Torchia and Zeeshan Ayyub lead the cast. The film was backed by the BFI and Film4, and is in the BFI and British Council’s Great 8 showcase.
Contact: Global Constellation
The Perfect Holiday
Dir. Bora Dagtekin
Plot details for this sequel to runaway 2019 box-office smash The Perfect Secret, which made more than $55m in the German market (and was itself a remake of the hit Italian film Perfect Strangers), remain under wraps but it will again mix comedy and an ensemble cast. The original featured a group of seven friends meeting for dinner and the chaos that ensues when they put their cellphones in the middle of the table and read out any messages that arrive. Dagtekin, who is also behind the local Suck Me Shakespeer franchise, returns as director and the completed movie should be ready in time for AFM.
Contact: Picture Tree International
Trick
Dir. Mario Martone
Italian star Toni Servillo leads the cast of psychological thriller Trick (Scherzetto), playing a successful illustrator who travels to Naples to look after his four-year-old grandson. What begins as a simple babysitting job turns into a subtle duel, as the child’s boundless imagination slowly unsettles him. Lorenzo Perrotta plays the young child. Martone’s 15th feature follows Fuori, which world premiered in last year’s Cannes Competition. Trick is in post, and produced by Mad Entertainment with Rai Cinema, in association with Picomedia.
Contact: Fulvio Firrito, Rai Cinema International Distribution
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