Graça lives in Belo Horizonte, where she gives private French lessons and lives with her French girlfriend. After a health emergency involving her father, she returns to her childhood home in the suburbs. There, a neighbouring family that leads a local religious congregation offers support. As they try to bring her back to "her place," Graça becomes trapped in a world of intolerance and fanaticism, setting her on a disturbing path toward the loss of sanity.

This is the synopsis for The French Teacher, the directing debut by Brazilian producer Ricardo Alves Jr, the world premiere of which is taking place in the Horizontes Latinos section of the current San Sebastián International Film Festival (18-26 September).

Alves Jr has directed short films such as Material bruto (2006), Permanências (2010), which participated in Cannes' Critics' Week, and Tremor (2014), which competed in Locarno's Leopards of Tomorrow section. In 2016 he directed his debut feature film, Elon Doesn't Believe in Death, presented in IFFR's Bright Future section. This was followed by the non-fiction film All That You Could Be (2023) and the experimental film Amusement Park (2024), which competed at FIDMarseille. He is also founder of the production company Entrefilmes.

Written by Germano Melo, The French Teacher stars Grace Passô, Jehnny Beth and Pedro Goifman. The film is produced by Brazilian companies Entrefilmes and Filmes de Plástico, in co-production with France's Les Valseurs and Portugal's Karõ Filmes. During its project phase, the film was selected for Ventana Sur Proyecta 2018.

Check out our exclusive trailer below: