Noomi Rapace and Maryam Touzani will lead the cast of Nabil Ayouch’s Run, With No Tears, a psychological thriller about motherhood, morality and identity.
The project was one of several titles unveiled at the annual Cannes press conference for Swedish film promotion agency Film i Vast, alongside Lone Scherfig’s romantic espionage thriller Honeytrap and Gustaf Skarsgard’s Ingmar Bergman-themed directorial debut The Cannibal On Faro.
Run, With No Tears will start shooting in Morocco at the end of September, from a script by Touzani and Ayouch, and also starring Nisrin Erradi. The film follows a lesbian couple who go to Morocco to adopt a child
“They’ve been trying to have a baby for many years, and this is their last chance to get this happiness, in a country where homosexuality is punished by law,” said Ayouch of the thriller element. “In this situation there is a tension. We wanted to explore how in the middle of this environment that is not friendly for them, they would find an exit.”
“It’s a film that explores the desire to be a mother, and a parent,” said Touzani, who shares a child with her partner Ayouch.
Set in Stockholm in 1968, Scherfig’s Honeytrap will follow a German Stasi agent trained to seduce Western women, who meets a young woman and actually falls in love.
“It’s a thriller and a spy movie, but also a story about the laws of innocence in a time when the Cold War is at its height, and when Sweden is probably the best society in the entire world,” said Scherfig at the Film i Vast showcase.
Scherfig and producer Lizette Jonjic are about to go on a two-week location scouting trip in Germany and Sweden, with the aim of shooting next spring.
With his father Stellan Skarsgard on the Cannes Competition jury this week, Vikings and Oppenheimer star Gustaf Skarsgard presented his directorial debut The Cannibal On Faro, written by Peter Birro.
Made with the consent of the Ingmar Bergman Foundation, the film is a psychological horror about a screenwriter who goes to the island of Faro to write a movie about Bermgan, but soon encounters a demonic presence that forces him into a brutal confrontation with his own past.
“This is a movie about the dangers of getting too close to your idols,” said Birro. “It’s a horror movie; but I also wanted it to be playful, unpredictable and funny – a celebration of cinema itself.”
“I haven’t directed anything since my first 30-minute short film 16 years ago, because I’ve been on the lookout for material that is worth me stepping away from my day job [of acting],” said Skarsgard. who said the film is “about what do we sacrifice for art? Is it worth it? And ultimately, is it even necessary?”
Ardalan Esmaili and Claes Ljungmark will lead the cast, with the film shooting this autumn in Bergman’s house on Faro.
Miracle
Sigge Eklund teased documentary feature Ruben, about filmmaker Ruben Ostlund and his ambition to win a third Palme d’Or with upcoming feature The Entertainment System Is Down.
With Ruben looking to wrap its production after Entertainment System’s world premiere, Eklund said that the latter title not being ready for Cannes this year was “a miracle, because I can use this year to interview more people.”
Director Levan Akin and producer Mathilde Dedye made a visit to the Cannes showcase ahead of prep for Akin’s Summer In Heat, which will start shooting on June 22.
“It’s set in 1993 by the Black Sea, where two groups of cousins meet for the summer,” said Akin, describing the film as one that “explores desire and shame.”
“We have a very big cast. I haven’t worked with such a big ensemble for a while,” added Akin. “We have people from Sweden, Germany, France.”
The Johan Falk series of crime films is returning after an 11-year hiatus, having released 20 features between 1999 and 2015. Jacob Eklund will reprise the police officer title role in three new features. “I thought it was really stupid,” joked Eklund, when asked about bringing the character back. “But a year ago, I felt that I love to see old men fight. You want to see action guys who have problems, not being young and strong.”
“The landscape is new, Johan is new, it’s a new police system in Gothenburg, and the early films are only a background,” said the actor.
The presentation included two debut features. Jakob Marky’s Grand Final is a dark comedy about a newly appointed theatre director whose attempt to save Sweden’s national Dramaten theatre spirals into chaos. Henrik Mestad is starring in the film.
Malin Ingrid Johansson’s debut Ford is a coming-of-age drama about a 19-year-old man living on a farm. Deeply connected to nature, animals, and his beloved older brother, he learns that not everyone in his circle is speaking the truth.
Film i Vast has two titles in Competition this year: Cristian Mungiu’s Fjord, and Marie Kreutzer’s Gentle Monster.
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