16/04/2025 - Two titles in competition, three in Un Certain Regard and one in Critics’ Week were developed at the hotbed of international talent organised by Italy's National Cinema Museum

Two works in competition, three in Un Certain Regard and one in Critics’ Week: this year, six TorinoFilmLab titles, the hotbed of international talent organised by the National Cinema Museum with the support of Creative Europe Media, presented in the programme of the 78th Cannes Film Festival (13-24 May). Of these, the five films in Official Selection are characterised by a strong female connotation, not only by the fact that three of them are directed by women, but also for the share of stories they tell.

For the first time, two films developed within the TFL will compete for the Palme d’Or. Japanese filmmaker Chie Hayakawa, already noticed for her previous Plan 75 [+see also:
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interview: Chie Hayakawa
film profile] (Special Caméra d’Or in Cannes in 2022) is in the race with Renoir, with which she participated in the 2023 FeatureLab and won the Coproduction Award worth €50,000. Set in Tokyo in 1987, Renoir follows 11-year-old Fuki, whose father Keiji has been battling cancer, and her mother Utako, constantly stressed by her caretaking for her husband and by her work. Developed in 2020 thanks to TFL, Carla Simón’s Romería is also in competition on the Croisette. The Spanish director also took part on the 2018 ScriptLab with her previous project, Alcarràs [+see also:
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interview: Carla Simón
interview: Carla Simón
interview: Giovanni Pompili
film profile], winner of the Golden Bear at the 2022 Berlinale. The film’s protagonist is Marina, a young orphan who must join the Atlantic coast of Spain to obtain a signature for a scholarship application from her paternal grandparents, whom she has never known, awakening buried emotions and wounds from the past.

The titles supported by the Turin lab and selected in the Un Certain Regard section are three debut features. Karavan by Zuzana Kirchnerová (Czech Republic) was developed within the 2018 ScriptLab and the 2020 FeatureLab, also receiving the Production Award worth €40,000. The film is an international co-production with the participation of Italian outfit Tempesta Film: shot in Italian, it tells the story of Ester, the single mother of a disabled child, who only has one dream: to spend two weeks in Italy with an old friend and without her son. The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo by Diego Céspedes (Chile) took part in the 2020 FeatureLab and won the Coproduction Award worth €50,000. Set in the Chilean desert at the beginning of the 1980s, the film follows 11-year-old Lidia who lives with her queer family in a mining town. A deadly illness starts to spread and the legend goes that it is transmitted between two men when they fall in love. Aisha Can’t Fly Away by Morad Mostafa (Egypt) was developed within the 2022 Red Sea Lodge. Aisha, a 26-year old Somali woman, lives and works in a neighbourhood of Cairo with a big community of African immigrants, controlled by different gangs.

Finally, standing out in the Critics’ Week lineup is Sleepless City by Guillermo Galoe, whose script was developed within the ScriptLab 2020 programme. A France-Spain production, the film by the Spanish auteur – already in Cannes in the past with his short films – follows Toni, a 15-year old Roma boy living in the biggest illegal shantytown in Europe, on the outskirts of Madrid. Proud of belonging to his family of scrap merchants, he follows his grandpa everywhere. But when the notices of demolition start to get closer to their land, the family breaks apart and Toni is forced to make a choice.

“Year after year, the TorinoFilmLab confirms its title as one of the most vital and dynamis labs, able to support young works that know how to catch the attention of the most prestigious international festivals”, declared Carlo Chatrian, director of the National Cinema Museum. The president of the museum, Enzo Ghigo, stated: “The beauty of our museum is that it is always straddling the past, present and future of the world of cinema [...] the future intercepts new audiovisual languages and helps create talent, support who believes in cinema, with the desire to grow and learn”.

(Translated from Italian)