08/03/2023 - True to its uninhibited and joyful spirit, the FIFF’s programme is composed of sweet, savoury, delectable but also subtly disconcerting offerings

The menu of the Freiburg International Film Festival - to be savoured between 12 and 26 March - includes no less than 99 films (60 feature films, 38 shorts, 1 docuseries and 1 film in 4DX & Screenx) hailing from 52 countries and divided across 12 gourmet sections. Amongst these are 55 Swiss premieres and 3 world premieres. It’s an offering fit to satisfy all tastes: from the traditionalists, who can enjoy the dishes proffered by the International Competition, to the most audacious audiences, who’ll get to sample the parallel Genre Film section.

The opening film this year will be Umami – A Taste of Happiness [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by French director Slony Sow, starring Gérard Depardieu up front in the cast. The festival’s closing slot, meanwhile, is entrusted to French-Algerian director Mounia Meddour and her movie Houria [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], which depicts the resurrection of a dancer who’s destroyed both in body and soul. The German director of Turkish descent Fatih Akin is guest of honour at this year’s Freiburg banquet. His movie Soul Kitchen [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], awarded the Special Jury Prize in Venice, is due to be presented in the Genre Film: Bon appétit! line-up, dedicated to culinary cinema. The section will ultimately consist of ten films hailing from all corners of the globe, including four European films screening in Swiss premieres: Édouard Baer’s bittersweet comedy Farewell Paris [+see also:
trailer
film profile], starring Benoît Poelvoorde, François Damien and Pierre Arditi, among other names; Italian movie Diario di spezie [+see also:
interview: Massimo Donati
film profile] by Massimo Donati, which is a cinematographic transposition of his novel of the same name; British director Ruth Paxton’s psychological horror film A Banquet; and Annika Appelin’s Swedish comedy Tuesday Club.

Fatih Akin is also curating the On the Map section, for which he has selected six of his favourite films. Rheingold [+see also:
film review
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film profile], his own most recent film which recounts the tormented life of the German rapper of Kurdish origins Xatar, is due to be presented in the Midnight Screenings line-up.

Out of the twelve films hailing from twenty different countries which make up the International Feature Films Competition, five are European productions and co-productions screening in Swiss premieres. These include the second film by Iranian director Hassan Nazer Winners [+see also:
film review
film profile]; Fabián Hernández’s moving, queer coming-of-age tale by Colombia, France, the Netherlands and Germany A Male [+see also:
film review
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interview: Fabián Hernández
film profile], which was presented in a world premiere in Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight; American director Lotfy Nathan’s first feature film Harka [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]; Syrian filmmaker Soudade Kaadan’s Nezouh [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], presented in Venice’s Orizzonti Extra section; and Chie Hayakawa’s first film Plan 75 [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Chie Hayakawa
film profile], a sophisticated dystopia sure to titillate our tastebuds which is produced by Japan, France, the Philippines and Qatar, which was awarded a Golden Camera Special Mention at the last Cannes Film Festival, and which is currently Japan’s representative in the Oscars race.

(Translated from French)