After the tower-based backdrops of Mercuriales [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] (selected for Cannes’ ACID line-up in 2014) and Sophia Antipolis [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Virgil Vernier
scheda film] (screened in Locarno’s Filmmakers of the Present section in 2018) and then Monaco in 100 000 000 000 000 [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Virgil Vernier
scheda film] (in competition last year in Locarno), not to mention the medium-length movies Orléans and Sapphire Crystal (which unfolded in Geneva), Virgil Vernier has found a new highly emblematic setting for his fascinating and highly personal fiction film approach: Los Angeles.

Shot exclusively in the City of Angels, a 5-minute sequence from Hidden Hills (working title) is set to be unveiled in the European Work in Progress event in Hamburg (running 29 September to 1 October – read our news). Currently in the editing phase, the film is due for completion in 2026.

Written by Virgil Vernier himself, the story takes us beneath the surface of Los Angeles by way of three stories. Laura has just started working as a pest control technician, training under Jason. She doesn’t enjoy the job, but she needs it to pay for cosmetology school. Mira is on a bachelorette weekend with her friends. Everyone is doing their best to make it special and fun, but the upcoming marriage is filling Mira with anxiety. Alex, a funeral home director wholly dedicated to his profession, is experimenting with something new: a ceremony in which participants experience their own funeral, designed to help cure depression.

The movie’s cast stars Kay Gutierrez, Cynthia Perez, Meron Meyer and Jason Baacke. The film is produced by Jean des Forêts and Amélie Jaquis on behalf of Petit Film and by Miléna Henochsberg for Opening Nights Films, in co-production with Anne-Louise Brittain and Rozz Therrien for US firm Blossom Street Films. Hidden Hills was mainly developed at the Villa Albertine. Cinematography was entrusted to Sean Price Williams (The Sweet East, Good Time, Harvest [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Athina Rachel Tsangari
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For the record, Petit Film are currently in the final phase of shooting La Chaleur by Stéphane Demoustier (read our article).