Alliance 4 Development, Locarno’s co-development platform for film projects from Austria, France, Germany and Switzerland, has presented this year’s projects.
The line-up includes Bruce LaBruce’s first French-led feature, “Third Take.” It’s a “female melodrama” starring Monica Bellucci and Béatrice Dalle as two actresses who reunite for a film shoot destined to “become the epiphany of their decaying romance,” he stated.
Love will also be at the heart of “Cuore Matto,” a “queer and feminist coming-of-age musical” in which director Tamer Ruggli follows a mother and a son.
“It explores questions of identity, freedom and social norms through a vibrant, romantic musical film,” he told Variety.
“Set in the late 1960s, the story unfolds during a period of profound social transformation, driven by a spirit of emancipation and the questioning of conservative values, we well as a desire to redefine social, romantic and family relationships. This era of openness and newly won freedoms strongly resonates with the present day, which is increasingly marked by identity tensions, inward-looking movements and the resurgence of reactionary rhetoric.”
This contrast gives the film a “distinctly contemporary relevance,” he stated.
“We believe the musical format is particularly well suited to this story, enabling it to reach a broad audience without compromising its artistic ambition. Music enables the characters to express emotions that words alone cannot convey, and allows the film to transcend linguistic and cultural boundaries.”
Complicated family dynamics also drive Henning Beckhoff’s “Dyspnoe.” It’s a father-daughter story about “exhaustion, masculinity and the desire to escape.”
“Set during a three-week rehabilitation retreat on the North Sea, the film combines the intimate realism of everyday family life with the poetic transformation of a man who increasingly feels more at home underwater than on land. At its emotional core is a love story between a father and his daughter, told with tenderness, humor and a subtle sense of the fantastic,” he said.
In Antonio Donato’s “Shooting Watermelons,” an authoritarian father takes his two sons on a summer holiday without their mother for the first time. According to Donato, the film sets out to “peel back the layers of power that men are expected to display each day.”
“I return to the summer world of my youth, a place fueled by rivalry, constant comparison, and the relentless pursuit of image. My own experiences become a mirror for a larger social pattern. This film is both a journey through my memory and an act of transformation, turning private scars into a universal narrative that questions – with irony and heart – old ideas of masculinity and patriarchy.”
Producer Santiago Fondevila Sancet added: “We were interested in this debut feature for its distinctive approach to male vulnerability, revealing it through the quiet rituals, social performances and small everyday gestures that often hide it in plain sight.”
He praised its “singular cinematic language, balancing awkwardness, empathy and understated humor to create an emotionally rich and deeply moving drama.”
“We believe the film has strong potential for European co-productions, thanks to the universal resonance of its story and the filmmaker’s growing international recognition, most recently marked by the selection of their short film ‘Oh Boys’ for Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight.”
Jessica Puppo’s “Reign of Silures” is set in a thermal palace on Lake Geneva, where two sisters try to survive. Producer Alexis Perrin called the film “an ecological body horror with an intimate heart.”
“[There are] two sisters, a dying lake and a luxury palace that devours those who serve it. Jessica transforms the betrayal of a generation taught that work would protect them into visceral cinema, where illness cracks the skin while luxury masks collapse. It combines bold world-building with a deeply emotional central relationship, making it a singular and ambitious debut feature,” he noted.
Other interesting female leads can be found in “Wrecking Ball” by Clara Stern, in which a woman refuses to give up in the face of real estate issues and a crumbling marriage, and Claudia Rorarius’ sci-fi film “Humanoid” about an artist who creates an android after her partner’s death.
“It’s an intimate drama about love, grief and the moment when artificial intelligence begins to enter our emotional lives. Through the perspective of a 48-year-old female artist, the film explores questions of identity, memory and human connection in a rapidly changing world,” she explained.
“With a strong female protagonist rarely represented on screen at this age, the project combines a deeply personal story with a globally relevant theme.”
In “Magnetic Storms” by Wendy Pillonel, a young rugby talent becomes stranded in an Italian village with her mother. She contacts her father, but his arrival doesn’t help. Florian Hoffmann’s “Yazz” sees its teenage protagonist “caught between barbed wire, privilege and danger.”
“We want to reveal a world that everyone recognizes, yet hardly anyone truly knows: life inside UN camps. Blending intimate drama with urgent political relevance, the film explores generational conflict, responsibility and the search for meaningful action in times of crisis. ‘Yazz’ is a timely arthouse film with strong international resonance and broad discussion potential,” said producer Katrin Renz.
“Yumi” – directed by Silvia Luzi and Luca Bellino – focuses on a girl who is constantly monitored through by her father, Gianni, through a parental control app.
“We wanted to explore a time in which looking has replaced seeing. We scroll through images, wars, bodies and lives, believing that exposure alone is enough to make them intelligible,” they stated. “Gianni looks in the same way: his daughter’s life passes before his eyes as something to consume, and this is precisely why it eludes him.”
“Stone Over Stone,” a new film by Hilal Baydarov, known for “Sermon to the Fish” and “In Between Dying,” will also be featured.
“It’s about people living on the edge of visibility and about what remains after violence: silence, displacement, shame and the fragile attempt to continue living,” he said.
“Set within an unfinished high-rise in a divided Eastern European city, it follows characters who are trying to build a future while carrying the invisible ruins of war.”
‘Yazz’
Courtesy of Tellfilm
A closer look at selected projects:
“Cuore Matto”
Switzerland
Director: Tamer Ruggli
Produced by Francine Lusser and Gérard Monier (Tipimages Productions), it also has Alessandra Moresco (Bliss Production) on board as an associate producer. The story, written by Ruggli and Joanne Giger, is set in 1969. Matteo, who’s 17, dreams of becoming an actor and escaping his father – as well as their grey industrial town. Sent to Ticino for the harvest, he discovers a vibrant, sensual world with Lucio and Alba. At home, his mother Giusi – trapped in an oppressive marriage – begins her own quiet emancipation.
“Dyspnoe”
Germany
Director: Henning Beckhoff
This film, produced by Frauke Kolbmüller for Oma Inge Film, was also written by Beckhoff. It focuses on marine biologist Ludwig who’s burnt out and adrift. He takes his daughter Carlotta to a parent-child clinic on an island. Amidst therapies, shifting loyalties and the unspoken truth of an impending separation, father and daughter find themselves drawn closer together. As Ludwig’s body begins to change in unsettling ways, the cure becomes a journey through fear, loss and transformation.
“Humanoid”
Germany
Director: Claudia Rorarius
Rorarius directs and produces this sci-fi film for Soquietfilms. Her second feature, “Touched,” premiered at Locarno and was awarded for acting. Set in the near future, it follows Elsa, who must deal with her grief following the death of her partner. She ends up creating an android in his image. What starts as an art project becomes a journey of self-empowerment. More determined than ever, Elsa challenges patriarchal structures and carves out a path for her independent motherhood.
“Magnetic Storms”
Switzerland
Director: Wendy Pillonel
Produced by Flavia Zanon for Close Up Films, the film is about Jo, a brash young rugby talent who finds herself stranded in an Italian village with her mother and without a phone, where the ground is shaking. Angry and obsessed with returning to Switzerland, she secretly contacts her father, convinced he’ll help her. But his arrival disrupts the fragile balance she thought she could control. Jo realizes she can no longer protect the silence surrounding her father’s behavior. As the ground and her world gradually crumble around her, she chooses to break free.
“Reign of Silures”
France
Director: Jessica Puppo
In her feature debut, Puppo teams up with co-writer Marine Flores-Ruimi and Rumble Fish Productions. The company was founded by Alexis Perrin (formerly of Logical Pictures) and is also behind “Vesper,” “Saloum,” “Cities of Last Things” as well as the upcoming “Goliath” by Lorcan Finnegan (“Vivarium,” “The Surfer”). In the film, Maïa is a concierge at a thermal palace on Lake Geneva, where giant catfish are burned as scapegoats for a plague that cracks human skin like parched earth. When her teenage sister is placed in her care, the hotel seals itself off as a gilded fortress against the dying world.
“Shooting Watermelons”
Italy
Director: Antonio Donato
Written by Paolo Carbone and Antonio Donato, and adapted from a short film of the same name, it’s produced by Santiago Fondevila Sancet for Cinedora – also behind “Vermiglio,” upcoming “1913” with Valeria Golino and “Klimt” by Maura Delpero. In the film, during a difficult separation, a father takes his two sons on a summer vacation. As they try to survive without their mother, the gap between them grows, especially when a wealthy foreign family arrives, sparking feelings of envy and rivalry. When a storm forces them to stay indoors, old wounds and hidden fears come to the surface, exposing their struggle to connect.
“Stone Over Stone”
Austria, Poland
Director: Hilal Baydarov
Hilal Baydarov’s new film will show pregnant Shams and her husband Davud, who settle in an unfinished high-rise, where he works to repay gambling debts. As Davud is drawn back into addiction, Shams grows increasingly isolated among the building’s workers, veterans and outcasts. When gambling, political despair and buried violence converge, the tower’s fragile community begins to crumble. It’s produced by Georg Tiller and Maéva Ranaïvojaona for Subobscura Films (Austria) and by Korek Bojanowski for AsterFilm (Poland).
“Third Take”
France
Director: Bruce LaBruce
Award-winning artist Bruce LaBruce returns with another film. Set in a not-so-distant future, “Thrid Take” is about two actresses who were once in love and reunite in a villa for a film shoot. “It’s a hyper-referential ‘meta film’ exploring the essence of being an actress,” stated LaBruce, noting that this “female melodrama blends classical glamour with raw realism. The idea is to synthesize cinematic obsessions and diverse visual formats to create an explosive work about human resilience and the profound strength of women.” Nicolas Brevière (Local Films) produces, while Monica Bellucci and Béatrice Dalle will star.
“Wrecking Ball”
Austria
Director: Clara Stern
With Michael Kitzberger producing for Nikolaus Geyrhalter Filmproduktion, Stern follows “Breaking the Ice” with a story about Eva, who – as it was stated – “runs up and down the dusty stairs in a bright yellow raincoat, exposing the real estate investor’s schemes, rallying her neighbors and fighting with her husband, wondering what went wrong.” Her protagonist is “fueled by frantic hope, love and humor. And a deep, buried anger.” Stern compared the film to a “pressure cooker.” “It combines two topics that make me angry: the real estate’s gambling with people’s homes paired with inequality in relationships.”
“Yazz”
Switzerland, Germany, France
Director: Florian Hoffmann
Hoffmann’s film is produced by Katrin Renz for Zurich-based Tellfilm, Nicole Gerhards for Niko Films and Xénia Maingot for France’s Eaux Vives Productions. It will be shot in Switzerland and France, and tells the story of Yazz: a teenager who grows up on a UN compound in the Central African Republic. A secret escape to see her local boyfriend, Joseph, ends in an accident that tears her family apart. Ten years later, her mother reappears in Switzerland – with Joseph by her side. Forced to face her first love and her own guilt, Yazz must consider whether old wounds can truly heal or only leave scars.
“Yumi”
Italy
Directors: Silvia Luzi, Luca Bellino
This Stemal Entertainment and Bokeh Film production was overseen by Donatella Palermo, who has worked with the Taviani brothers, Ermanno Olmi and Gianfranco Rosi. The film’s protagonist, Yumi, is 13 and searching for her place in the world. Gianni, her father, monitors her through a parental control app, convinced he is protecting her – until that ordinary device becomes his own private cinema: vertical, unsettling and intimate. When Yumi begins to feel watched, she reacts by defying the lens, turning being 13 into a ruthless performance until an invisible threshold is crossed.
